West Palm Beach, Fla. --NAI/Merin Hunter Codman, the largest commercial real estate brokerage firm in Palm Beach County, today announced that Melissa LaMonica has been named the first female shareholder of the firm. The promotion marks the first female principal in the firm’s 17-year history but one that according to firm’s management is extremely well deserved. LaMonica became familiar with the firm when she was a student at FAU in a real estate class taught by the firm’s Chairman, Neil E. Merin.
“NAI/Merin Hunter Codman has grown exponentially over the last five years, especially on our institutional side,” said Merin. “The magnitude of our activities combined with the demands of exacting institutional clients has meant that our financial reporting needed to be at the most sophisticated levels possible. LaMonica not only achieved our goals but exceeded them.”
Ms. LaMonica, Vice President of Finance at NAI/Merin Hunter Codman and now Principal, is responsible for overseeing all of the firm’s internal financial controls as well as that of the 48 buildings, or 3.8 million square feet in commercial real estate space that the firm manages in Palm Beach and Broward Counties. LaMonica assists in setting the firm’s accounting policies and procedures, manages cash flow operations, forecasting and budgeting, and audit processes among other responsibilities. She has also been spearheading new information technology initiatives at the firm.
Added Jay M. Grossman, President of NAI/Merin Hunter Codman, “The importance of excellence in financial controls cannot be overestimated in today’s markets. Melissa ensures that our projections are feasible under a multitude of scenarios, that our budgets are achievable, and that the proper safeguards are in place to assure accuracy and accountability. Our clients have come to regard our financial controls with the highest degrees of certainty and comfort.”
LaMonica joined NAI/Merin Hunter Codman in March 2006, bringing to the company over 15 years of financial and accounting experience. Ms. LaMonica graduated from Florida Atlantic University with two Bachelors of Business Administration Degrees, one in Finance and one in Real Estate.
Ms. LaMonica, the mother of three children, balances demands on work and family life. In addition to being a softball coach for one of her daughter’s teams and a player herself, within the last year, she has also volunteered for Adopt-A-Family’s Santa’s Workshop, the Susan G. Komen Foundation/Race for a Cure, Habitat for Humanity, and The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s Light the Night Walk.
NAI/Merin Hunter Codman, www.mhcreal.com, is the largest commercial real estate brokerage firm in Palm Beach County, Florida with over two decades’ experience advising on strategic acquisitions, dispositions, tenant representation, leasing and comprehensive property management. The firm advises on all commercial property sectors from office and industrial to retail, multifamily and land. NAI/Merin Hunter Codman has among its client base some of the nation’s most prestigious institutional and private investors and through the NAI global network, can facilitate property transactions around the nation and the world, serving as a single point of contact for counsel and execution. NAI/Merin Hunter Codman is headquartered in West Palm Beach with regional offices in Boca Raton, Palm Beach and Palm Beach Gardens.
