The Community Associations Institute Research Foundation has named five officers to one-year terms serving the Institute's data-collection and research entity. The new leadership took office March 1 during the Research Foundation's strategic planning meeting in Annapolis, Md.
Founded in 1973, the Community Associations Institute Research Foundation is a 501(c)(3) corporation that mobilizes charitable contributions to fund research projects involving condominium, cooperative, and homeowners associations and to publish research results.
Brent E. Herrington, PCAM, president, currently serves as community association manager for Celebration, a new, 8,000-unit planned community in Central Florida developed by the Walt Disney Co. Herrington is also vice president of Capital Consultants Management Corp, a national firm that manages planned communities throughout the southern U.S. With more than 12 years of community association management experience, Herrington has authored numerous articles for industry publications and has served on the CAI Board of Trustees and several CAI committees. He is a past president of the CAI Central Arizona chapter and is a member of the CAI Houston chapter Hall of Fame.
Mitchell H. Frumkin, P.E., president-elect, is president of Kipcon Inc., a professional engineering consulting firm in Highland Park, N.J., that specializes in community association services. Frumkin holds an engineer's license in 22 states and is a frequent speaker and author on industry issues. He is the editor and contributing author of A Complete Guide to Reserve Funding and Reserve Investment Strategies and pens a regional monthly column, Cover Your Assets. Frumkin serves on the CAI Board of Trustees, chairs the Reserve Professionals Designation Committee and is a past president of CAI's New Jersey chapter.
Richard J. Leeds, CMCA, vice president, is executive vice president of CFM Management Services, Rockville, Md. A 36-year veteran of the community association management, construction and development industries, Leeds works directly with builders, developers and public agencies involved in creating common interest communities from conceptualization through set-up and management. Leeds holds real estate licenses in Maryland and the District of Columbia and is a frequent lecturer and author on multi-family housing management systems in the U.S. and abroad. He is a past president of CAI's Washington Metro chapter.
Marc D. Markel, Esq., secretary, is a partner of Roberts, Markel & Folger L.L.P., Houston, and heads the firm's Real Estate Law section. Board certified in both Commercial Real Estate Law and Residential Real Estate Law, Markel helped draft the Texas Uniform Condominium Act and has authored master deed restrictions for numerous large residential and commercial developers and builders. He is a frequent speaker on real estate issues for bar associations and CAI conferences. Markel is a past director of the Houston Bar Association Real Estate section and has served on several American Bar Association committees. He is a charter member of CAI's College of Community Association Lawyers, chairman of CAI's Presidents Club and a director and past president of CAI's Greater Houston chapter.
Jerome M. Fien, treasurer, is a retired managing partner at Samuel Klein and Co. CPAs, Newark, N.J. He has served as president of The Woodlands at West Orange Community Association since 1989, a community honored by CAI's New Jersey chapter as Best Medium-sized Association in 1991. A seasoned speaker, moderator and workshop leader, Fien is a member of the CAI New Jersey chapter Hall of Fame. He is a secretary/treasurer of the National Board of Certification for Community Association Managers and serves on the Editorial Advisory Board of Common Ground™, CAI's award-winning bimonthly magazine. Fien served as the homeowner representative on CAI's Board of Directors for four years and chaired CAI's Homeowners Committee from 1993 to 1995 among numerous committee assignments.
The Community Associations Institute is a nonprofit association created in 1973 to educate and represent the nation's 150,000 community associations—condominium associations, homeowner associations and cooperatives. CAI members include homeowners, associations and the professionals who provide products and services to them.