DALLAS–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Dallas real estate entrepreneur and advisor, Gene E. Phillips, and his wife Roxanne R. Phillips, recently traveled to Seoul, Korea to accept an honorary doctorate of Real Estate Studies from Konkuk University. Mr. Phillips founded Realty Advisors Korea in 2001 and created one of the first publicly traded US style real estate investment trust on the Korean Stock Exchange in 2003.
Konkuk University was founded in 1931 and has the enrollment of 32,000 students. Konkuk University is ranked as one of the top 100 Universities in Asia by The Times Higher Education, the U.K.’s leading publication in the field of education. The University’s Real Estate program is the largest in the world with 1,100 undergraduate and graduate students and ranked No. 1 in Korea.
The Dean of the graduate school stated in his recommendation that the school acknowledges his contribution on the establishment of the REIT system in Korea in the early 2000s and confer the honorary doctorate degree to Mr. Phillips.
President of the University, Dr. Sang-Gi Min, gave a congratulatory speech at the ceremony: “Mr. Phillips made a great contribution to the introduction and establishment of the REIT system in the domestic industry, which Korea was pursuing as a major policy of the Korean government during the IMF financial crisis. He also contributed to the recovery of the Korean economy by supporting small and medium businesses of Korea, which struggled during the IMF financial crisis. Also, he made a great social contribution through his various donation activities. In regard to this, I consider it is truly meaningful for us to grant the Honorary Doctorate to Mr. Gene E. Phillips. He has made a great contribution to Korea’s economic development while fulfilling culture of communication and coexistence. Mr. Phillips is now a welcomed member of Konkuk University.”
Mr. Phillips began his acceptance speech by thanking the President of the University, Dr. Sang-Gi Min, as well as the Dean of the Graduate School, Dr. Il-Min Chung, the Dean of the Graduate School of Real Estate Studies, Dr. Koh and the Director of the Research Center of Real Estate and Urban Studies, Dr. H.S. Lee. “I cannot begin to describe how honored I am to be receiving this honorary doctorate here at Konkuk University. It is my great pleasure to be associated with this inspiring institution, and I am delighted to be back in this wonderful city of Seoul.”
He continued, “We wanted to create a way for future generations to learn and leverage different techniques to help develop and secure a stronger market here in Seoul. In these fifteen short years, after much brainstorming and collaboration, I am proud to say that the institutional real estate market in Korea is now one of the most dynamic markets here in Asia and that the graduates of Konkuk University’s graduate real estate program have paved the way. It is through the tireless efforts of the university’s leaders, faculty, students, family and friends that we have achieved such wonderful success, and I am grateful to be a part of its history. I am thrilled to see the university’s influence in the Korean market today and look forward to continuing to support and share the university’s mission and vision for the future. Thank you very much.”
The event was attended by over 100 guests representing Korea’s top academia and business community and was featured in several Korean newspapers including the Maeil Economic Daily (Maeil Business Newspaper) South Korea’s main daily business newspaper.
Gene E. Phillips of Dallas, Texas is the patriarch of one of the Southwest’s most prominent and respected families. Not only are they known for their accomplishments in business, but also for their philanthropic commitment to their community. They give generously to both educational and cultural institutions. Gene has been in commercial real estate for more than 40 years and has purchased, managed, developed and sold billions of dollars’ worth of real estate during this time. His philosophy is simple: identify and acquire undervalued or under-performing properties, adding capital improvements, aggressive leasing, and management programs in order to achieve long-term, above-market returns, and produce high quality real estate developments that are economically sound.
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