Award winning companies choose Rockwall County for business

GMR Wins National Honor from Jones Lang LaSalle

Sheri Franza, Rockwall EDC

(Rockwall) July 12, 2013 – There’s a good reason that Rockwall was voted #1 in Job Creation by CNN Money magazine…the Rockwall-Heath area is home to award winning employers. One such company, GMR located in Heath, was recently recognized for their excellence in quality, service and value.

GMR is a family owned and operated business which began in 1991 by Mike Ross, GMR President and Founder.  GMR manages facility inspection and data collection to help clients nationwide maintain consistent security, lighting design, brand and compliance standards for the finance, property management, commercial, medical, retail, security and restaurant industries, and municipalities.  In 1993, Ross turned over day-to-day management of GMR to wife Linda, GMR Chairman of the Board, and Shirley Bailey, GMR Chief Executive Officer.  A Women’s Business Enterprise certified by WBENC (Women’s Business Enterprise National Council), GMR helps clients mitigate risk to provide safe and secure business environments, as well as ensure consistent branding standards.

GMR began their business with a concentration on the financial sector where they created best practices in ATM lighting compliance that have consistently proven successful for some of the best known institutions in banking.  “In the early ‘90s, a number of states had enacted regulations that required certain levels of safety around ATMs,” said Mike Ross.  “We developed and conducted surveys pertaining to those regulations that resulted in our original best practices and became our initial entry into the business.”

As a result of GMR’s outstanding quality and service delivery, they were recently awarded Jones Lang LaSalle’s 2012 “Supplier of Distinction Award” in the Energy and Sustainability category which recognizes suppliers that support Jones Lang LaSalle’s objectives related to delivering sustainable solutions.  “We challenge all of our suppliers to continuously improve service, add value and innovate.  GMR and the other five winning companies really set the standard of excellence,” said Marc Campbell, Senior Vice President of Strategic Sourcing at Jones Lang LaSalle. “We recognize extraordinary accomplishment as a core value and we applaud GMR’s dedication to improving business performance.”

The GMR team successfully integrated new and energy-efficient LED lighting technology across the portfolio of one of JLL’s largest banking clients. More than 200 projects have been delivered since the program’s inception, resulting in more than $865,000 in energy and maintenance savings.  “The pilot program that resulted in this award was 200 banking locations that because of security requirements needed new lighting designed.  We were able to take these banking locations to the next level for energy savings by converting them to LED lighting,” said Ross.  “We’re doing the same for a number of our other banking clients now.”

The award recipients were selected from a pool of 100 supplier partners by Jones Lang LaSalle’s Global Strategic Sourcing Board.  “We were pleasantly surprised with the news of this award.  It came as the result of a great partnership between Jones Lang LaSalle and our GMR team,” said Ross.  “I think what surprised us most is that our small, family owned business with 70 employees was singled out for this prestigious national award.  We are very proud of what this award represents and grateful for the recognition from Jones Lang LaSalle.”

When businesses are shopping for a corporate headquarters location or manufacturing facility, or to open a new restaurant or retail shop, they evaluate their neighbors the same as a home buyer evaluates a neighborhood before making a decision.  “The Rockwall Economic Development Corporation is proud to partner with other cities in Rockwall County in making the area the most appealing region in North Texas,” said Sheri Franza, President and CEO of the Rockwall Economic Development Corporation.

The City of Heath and Heath Economic Development Corporation Board are proud to have businesses the caliber of GMR located in Heath.  “The Rockwall Economic Development Corporation has been extremely effective in attracting high quality businesses such as GMR to the Rockwall County area, which has led to the recognition Rockwall received by CNN,” said Kim Dobbs, Director of Community and Economic Development for the City of Heath.  “Rockwall being named #1 in Job Creation is an advantage that we can all capitalize upon as we unite in our efforts to recruit businesses that expand our tax base and enhance the quality of life and employment opportunities Rockwall County residents enjoy.”

“We congratulate GMR and our other award winning businesses for their pursuit of excellence and are happy to have these great businesses in Rockwall County cities,” said Franza.  “We invite and encourage other companies to explore the benefits of doing business in Rockwall-Heath and join our growing and thriving business community.”

For more information about GMR, visit gmr1.com

About Jones Lang LaSalle
Jones Lang LaSalle (NYSE:JLL) is a professional services and investment management firm offering specialized real estate services to clients seeking increased value by owning, occupying and investing in real estate. With annual revenue of $3.9 billion, Jones Lang LaSalle operates in 70 countries from more than 1,000 locations worldwide. On behalf of its clients, the firm provides management and real estate outsourcing services to a property portfolio of 2.6 billion square feet and completed $63 billion in sales, acquisitions and finance transactions in 2012. Its investment management business, LaSalle Investment Management, has $47.7 billion of real estate assets under management. For further information, visit www.jll.com

Submitted by Leslyn Blake, Marketing Manager, Rockwall Economic Development Corporation.

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