February 13, 2013
Contact:
Jenifer Shockley, 404-413-7078
J. Mack Robinson College of Business
Karen Gibler
Karen M. Gibler, associate professor of real estate at Georgia State University’s J. Mack Robinson College of Business, has been named executive director of International Real Estate Society (IRES). As IRES executive director, Gibler will be responsible for fundraising, promotion, managing ongoing projects, and communications.
IRES was founded in 1993 as a federation of regional real estate societies, to be headquartered at the executive director’s university.
Regional societies affiliated with IRES include the Pacific Rim Real Estate Society, European Real Estate Society, Asian Real Estate Society, African Real Estate Society, Latin American Real Estate Society and Middle East North African Real Estate Society (MENARES).
Current IRES activities include funding the attendance of African academic leaders at research conferences, supporting the development of a journal of African real estate research, advising MENARES, and sponsoring panels at regional conferences to promote faculty and student exchanges and cooperation. The organization also presents annual awards for achievement in international real estate research, service and corporate leadership.
An accomplished researcher, Gibler specializes in the application of consumer behavior theories to real estate as well as corporate real estate management. The primary focus of her work is the preferences and behaviors of seniors when choosing retirement housing in the U.S., Europe, and Asia. Her articles have appeared in such publications as the Journal of Consumer Affairs, Housing Policy Debate, Journal of Property Research, Journal of Real Estate Research, and Real Estate Economics. She received the IRES Service Award in 2012, and holds the key to the city where she grew up.
The largest business school in the South and part of a major research institution, Georgia State University's J. Mack Robinson College of Business has 200 faculty, 8,000 students and 80,000 alumni. With programs on five continents and students from 88 countries, the college is world-class and worldwide. Its part-time MBA is ranked among the best by the Aspen Institute, Bloomberg Businessweek and U.S. News & World Report, and its Executive MBA is on the Financial Times list of the world's premier programs. Located in Atlanta, the Robinson College and Georgia State have produced more of Georgia's top executives with graduate degrees than any other school in the Southeast.