In a world where things move awfully fast, we very rarely have the opportunity, or find time, to reflect on the past and recognize people for doing a terrific job.

Tonight, I had the opportunity to think back on how far commonground has come in a very short period of time as we were recognized for a Business Achievement Award by Grant Ferrier and the Environmental Business Journal at their annual Summit in San Diego.  There was a very nice ceremony where many environmental and commercial real estate pioneers received accolades for their efforts during a turbulent 2009 for our marketplace.   Last year, we collectively won a Project Merit Award.   To me, it meant that your social network has gone from being considered a notable new project to keep an eye on, to being a valuable destination where members of our industry can go to learn, network, and generate business.

During the ceremony, Grant indicated that we had done a great job with social networking - something that we all hear more about each day and can't ignore.

To that end, I wanted to write this post to let you know that I am humbled to accept the award on behalf of you – our 5,700 + members.  After all, you have written nearly 1,000 blogs, added nearly 7,000 discussions posts and subsequent comments, and collectively contributed to making commonground the premier social network for environmental and commercial real estate professionals.   

So, to that end, I would like to tip my hat to you – the members, advisors, contributors, and cg member support team that made this award, and our recent Groundswell Award , possible.  If our T&E budget were big or even existed, we would have flown all of you to San Diego to accept the award with us!

We look forward to the next year and to continuing to provide value to our current and future members.

Again, thank you - and congratulations.  

Mark