MRI Software Honors Real Estate Technology Leaders with 2024 RE:Visionary Awards

Awards were presented at the MRI Ascend users conference in San Diego

Solon, Ohio – November 25, 2024 – MRI Software, a global leader in real estate software solutions, announced the recipients of the sixth annual RE:Visionary Awards at its MRI Ascend 2024 North American users conference, held in San Diego on October 20-23. The RE:Visionary awards honor MRI clients and partners who leverage MRI’s open and connected software and extensive partner network to elevate their business and move the industry forward.

“It’s truly gratifying to see how our clients are building stronger communities by embracing technology innovation,” said John Ensign, President and Managing Director for North America, MRI Software. “We are proud to honor their achievements and share in their success.”

The awards cover five categories: Technology Adoption, AI Visionary, Data Visionary, High Impact, and Partner of the Year.

2024 RE:Visionary Awards recipients

Technology Adoption: City of Santa Ana Housing Authority

This award recognizes an organization that strives to advance technology within the industry by participating in MRI product rollouts and evaluations.

The City of Santa Ana Housing Authority exemplifies the value of working closely with the MRI team to usher in technology that benefits the public housing sector. In 2020, the City of Santa Ana began using MRI PHA Pro, which is designed for housing choice voucher programs and housing authorities. The software enabled the organization to efficiently serve its residents remotely to ensure service continuity.

“MRI PHA Pro was developed by experts that know our industry and share our mission,” said Judson Brown, Housing Division Manager, City of Santa Ana Housing Authority. “Over the last five years, we have produced more affordable housing than any other city in Orange County and MRI has supported us every step of the way.”

AI Visionary: Urban Edge

This award honors an organization that leverages MRI to drive business innovation and demonstrates market-sector best practices.

Urban Edge Properties (NYSE: UE) is a real estate investment trust (REIT) that acquires, develops, owns, manages and improves shopping centers located in the Washington D.C. to Boston corridor. Under the leadership of Cecilia Li, CIO of Urban Edge, the company implemented MRI OnLocation for Footfall Analytics to better understand footfall traffic in their portfolio. The solution enables Urban Edge to monitor foot traffic volume in specific locations, track trends, and measure the impact of events and promotions – all of which help uncover opportunities to optimize performance and grow revenue. Urban Edge can leverage the power of AI-driven foot traffic analytics to drive informed decision-making for its retail properties.

Data Visionary: The Peterson Companies

This award honors an organization that leverages MRI solutions to combine and aggregate data for more strategic decision-making.

Founded in 1965, Peterson Companies is one of the largest privately owned real estate developers in the Washington, D.C. region. Their portfolio includes retail, residential, commercial, industrial, storage, and more.

Peterson Companies uses the MRI Agora Insights data and analytics platform to leverage data from MRI Property Management X to help their team drive informed decisions and find the right data quickly and efficiently. Access to immediate information has saved significant time for employees, allowing them to spend less time gathering and presenting data and more time analyzing it or focusing on strategic initiatives.

“This award means a lot to us because it’s about pushing technology forward for real estate,” said Josh Levine, VP of Information Technology, Peterson Companies. “We are proud to leverage tools that will advance the industry.”

High Impact: Benderson Development

This award recognizes a client whose appetite for testing new technology, providing critical feedback, and sharing best practices results in solution enhancements and benefits for the entire PropTech community.

Benderson Development was founded over 70 years ago, and its portfolio includes more than 55M square feet of grocery-anchored shopping centers, warehouse, industrial, office, medical, net leases, and hospitality. In an effort to reduce costs, increase efficiency, and gain valuable operational insights, Benderson’s CIO, Shaun Smith, has spearheaded the company’s strategy of further automating everyday processes and integrating more of its business into MRI’s broad product and partner ecosystem.

Most recently, the company added the MRI Agora Insights data and analytics platform to its tech stack, which will give users across the business quick access to information, enabling efficient decision-making for the Benderson team. In addition, the MRI Application Studio available with MRI Property Management X allowed them to tailor applications to their unique needs instead of having to purchase additional software.

Partner of the Year: Open Box Software

This award goes to the MRI partner that exemplifies a commitment to MRI’s shared clients through innovation and best practices.

Open Box Software is a global software development consultancy focused on the real estate industry. As a certified gold MRI Software Consulting Partner, Open Box works with clients and MRI staff around the world, including the US, South Africa, the UK and Europe.

The Open Box team has partnered with MRI for 10 years, delivering solutions and best practices that drive efficiency for some of the most recognized brands in real estate. Through their expertise and knowledge, Open Box has successfully completed a large number of projects, implementations, and migrations to help MRI clients solve business challenges and optimize performance.

The RE:Visionary Awards and MRI Ascend took place in San Diego. The event brought together more than 1,100 attendees and representatives from 65 technology partners for four days of keynotes, presentations, networking events, seminars, workshops, and exhibits on MRI and its real estate technology ecosystem.

Media Contacts:
(US for MRI)
Rachel Antman (+1 212 362 5837)
rachel@saygency.com