BOSTON – Rich Bettina, senior director of leasing for Fresenius Medical Care North America recently received the Real Estate Executive for the Americas by CoreNet New England.
The End User Leadership Award is designed to recognize a North America CoreNet Global New England member who provides leadership to the success of the corporate real estate industry and of their department, team, and company. Rich was nominated by Marc Margulies, FAIA, LEED AP, principal at Margulies Perruzzi, and Tim Myllykangas, managing principal at Cresa.
“I have worked closely with Rich since he joined FMC as the Director of Transaction Management – Lease Renewals for North America in 2018. It is truly impressive what he has done in such a short time,” said Tim. “Rich has a unique skill set not seen in most corporate real estate executives. Beyond basic real estate strategy and portfolio management, he has a strong knowledge and understanding of how to navigate successfully through the many management layers in a very complex and large organization. He quickly maps out the landscape of top stakeholders, builds relationships at key levels, and comes up with a plan to improve strategy, process, and measurable results for the company.”
Richard A. Bettina is an experienced professional with over 30 years of director-level management experience in North America, Latin America, and Asia Pacific for companies such as FMC, Dell/EMC, Teradyne, and IBM. Rich has demonstrated expertise in corporate real estate across all aspects of portfolio management including site expansions and consolidations, lease transactions, project management, and facilities services.
“Just as the COVID-19 pandemic hit, FMC was in the early stages of the complete transformation of its 2.6 million SF of non-clinical workspace under Rich’s direction,” said Marc. “Recognizing the enormous opportunity presented by dozens of lease expirations and underutilized sites across the US, Rich assembled a team to investigate consolidation efficiencies that would simultaneously improve collaboration and flexibility. Pivoting rapidly in response to COVID, Rich redirected his team to build leadership and staff consensus around a fully unassigned, highly remote workplace, dubbed the “Future of Work” at FMC.”
Fresenius is the world’s largest integrated provider of products and services for individuals undergoing dialysis because of chronic kidney failure. As senior director of leasing for North America, Rich is responsible for over 3,000 clinic and office sites and for internal and external teams negotiating 500 lease transactions annually. His internal and external teams manage new lease and site search activities, lease renewals, site consolidations, and all aspects of dispositions throughout North America. Rich works directly with all company executives including eight General Managers and 40 Regional Vice Presidents with ~ 30 million SF across 3,500 locations.
“I’m extremely grateful for the opportunity to receive this award which was only achievable by teaming up our Fresenius employees with hand-picked industry partners as part of our “Corporate Core team”. This core team was developed prior to the pandemic and was initially focused on utilization metrics for portfolio optimization,” said Rich. “The arrival of COVID-19 and its effects on the workplace enabled this team to shift priorities and accelerate its efforts toward Future of Work modelling led by our director of corporate facilities and construction, Scott Silva. This team’s motivation caused it to excel on all fronts, ensuring our real estate and facilities teams were well positioned to meet the needs of our employees and our company.”
Rich received a Bachelor of Science from Northeastern University and an MBA in Strategic Business Management from Pace University. An active member of CoreNet New England, Rich has served on the Board of Directors and as a Real Advantage committee member and liaison to the board. Outside of the office he is active with Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Mass./MetroWest.
