Steve Lieberman, co-chair of The Retail Connection, honored by North Texas Commercial Association of Realtors

Bill Hethcock

The fourth time was the charm for Steve Lieberman, CEO and co-chairman of The Retail Connection, who received the North Texas commercial real estate industry’s biggest honor in a ceremony Thursday night.

Lieberman was named winner of the 2009 Stemmons Service Award given by the North Texas Commercial Association of Realtors and Real Estate Professionals, or NTCAR, in a ceremony at the Belo Mansion in downtown Dallas.

NTCAR also awarded its Young Citizen Award, which went to Ben Appleby, a leasing representative with Duke Realty.

Winners for both awards are chosen based on their tenure and production in the commercial real estate industry, professional and civic involvement, professional standards, and participation in industry organizations. Candidates are nominated by their peers, and winners are selected by a vote of the NTCAR board of directors.

NTCAR received 25 nominations for the Stemmons award and narrowed them to four finalists: Dave Anderson, executive vice president of CB Richard Ellis; Riis Christensen, senior vice president of tenant advisory services for Transwestern; Jack “Buddy” Tompkins, senior director of GVA Cawley Realty Services; and Lieberman.

This was Lieberman’s fourth year to be a finalist.

“It’s a great honor,” Lieberman said after the ceremony. “It’s peer recognition, which is what makes it so meaningful. Everybody who was a finalist this year could have been a winner.”

The award is named for the Stemmons family in recognition of their leadership and contributions to the growth of Dallas. John and Storey Stemmons developed the Trinity Industrial District and donated land for Interstate 35E, among other contributions. John Stemmons was a pioneer in increasing the water supply in and around Dallas and was president of NTCAR’s predecessor organization, the Greater Dallas Association of Realtors, in 1945.

Lieberman has 23 years of real estate experience, starting with the Henry S. Miller commercial real estate firm. He spent the next 14 years with The Weitzman Group before moving to The Retail Connection in 2003. He is an 18-year NTCAR member, serving as the group's director in 1997-1998.

Lieberman has served on the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation Board of Directors since 1985, the Alzheimer’s Association Board of Trustees since 2003 and has been on boards and committees for several other charitable, civic, professional and faith-based organizations.

Lieberman’s professional and civic leadership epitomize the spirit of the Stemmons award, said Magellan Commercial Realty CEO Phil Baker, the 2008 recipient and chairman of this year’s ceremony.

“Not only is he a respected and extremely successful real estate broker and leader, he applies that same passion to his personal life,” Baker said in a prepared statement. “He has given (unselfishly) to a number of Dallas charitable organizations where his efforts are making a true difference.”

Appleby, the Young Citizen award winner, is the current chairman of NTCAR’s Young Professionals Forum and is a member of the NTCAR Reunion and Hall of Fame Committee. He is a member of NAIOP and The Real Estate Council. His civic involvement includes The Bob Edge Scholarship Committee, University of Oklahoma Alumni Association, Habitat for Humanity, Hearts and Hammers, EvanTell and Mercy Street, where he is a mentor.

Appleby beat out finalists Lindsay Allen of Apartment Realty Advisors, David Liggitt of CB Richard Ellis and Charlie Morris of Colliers International.

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