2021 Global CEO Excellence Awards

18 CEO MONTHLY / GLOBAL CEO EXCELLENCE AWARDS 2021 CEO MONTHLY / GLOBAL CEO EXCELLENCE AWARDS 2021 19 , , May21524 Best Organic Vegetarian & Vegan Brand CEO: Sophia Somaschi – Italy The V-Label trademarkwas developed by the Italian Vegetarian Association in the 1970s and is now the most recognised vegan brand in the world, registered in over 70 countries, spread over five continents. Led by CEO, Sophia Somaschi, V-Label is the market leader of vegan and vegetarian certification, guaranteeing quality, transparency and professionalismwhen it comes to foods, restaurants, cosmetics, and textiles and footwear. V-Label allows companies to promote their products with safety and reliability and is ultimately a distinguishing mark which grants the consumers that the product is approved 100% suitable for vegetarians and vegans. It aims to help companies reach vegetarian and vegan consumers with products that are 100% aligned with their expectations, and it helps consumers easily find more products which reflect their needs. V-Label knows what vegetarians and vegans are looking for and it helps companies offer them what they really want and need. Overall, its core job is to ensure that any product claimed as V-Label- approved adheres to its standard. The company not only approves products as suitable for vegetarian and vegan lifestyles, but it also works to promote products in a very competitive market. It offers producers and distributors a wide range of promotion services, with experts available to support with consulting, imagery, graphics and communication, thus not leaving any gaps when promoting products to the target market. Since 2018, Sophia Somaschi has been CEO of V-Label. She is committed, passionate, a collaborator, and a believer in cooperation and teamwork. At V-Label, both employees and external partners get involved on all new projects and everybody is responsible for a specific area. Speaking about her experience as CEO, Sophia said, “I consider any challenge as an opportunity: any new customer, new product and even any inconvenience is something that allows us to learn and grow. That’s why it’s crucial to work with motivated people who are used to thinking about how we can do better. We have reached new markets, added new services and reached new customers of every size and field. It has all been a team challenge.” Looking towards the future, Sophia has big plans for V-Label – She’s striving towards making the brand much more international than it already currently is. It is a market leader, but to keep this position, it needs to continue working hard, offering more services and keeping its reputation high. The company is also excited to be able to attend events and exhibitions again in order to meet customers and new potential customers. It is expecting to attend events in five different countries to be nearer its customers after a long period of distancing. Company: V-Label Italia Contact: Sophia Somaschi Email: [email protected] Website: www.vlabel.org May21432 Real Estate Investment CEO (USA): Shelby E. L. Pruett EGM and its affiliate companies have become leading investors in the commercial real estate markets by making successful investments in corporate build-to-suit, sale leaseback, and net lease real estate assets leased to Fortune 500 and other investment grade credit corporate tenants throughout the United States. Led by Chairman & CEO Shelby E. L. Pruett, EGM is a leading Chicago-based investment manager and owner and manager of Capri EGM, its registered investment advisor. The firm is an established net lease investor targeting build-to- suit, sale leaseback and direct investment opportunities in high growth markets throughout the United States and on a select basis in Central Europe. Pruett has had a distinguished career in the private equity and real estate investment sectors, becoming highly regarded as one of the key figures in the industry across the United States. He has been recognized as being an integral part of the net lease industry, contributing to its growth and recognition as an institutional asset class. He is a communicative and collaborative leader who has built a number of successful companies and high functioning teams and has secured and maintains valuable partnerships throughout the real estate and private equity Structural headwinds brought on by the pandemic continue to impact the global real estate markets. Despite these headwinds, a large number of bellwether corporate users are making new commitments to significant, long-termoffice, industrial, life science, and other leases across the globe. EGM, and its affiliates, through the leadership of CEO, Shelby E. L. Pruett, have become leading investors in the commercial real estate markets by acquiring and providing capital for the creation of these long term leased corporate assets. industries. Pruett believes one of the keys to generating returns across business and economic cycles within the sector is to focus on credit, real estate fundamentals, and residual value. He has guided the firm to invest in themes that have strong prospects for growth, focusing on investing in new, and to-be constructed corporate assets in what they believe are the right geographies and sectors. Pruett is an innovative and pragmatic business leader, who is highly adept in driving organizations towards exponential growth and value creation. Under Pruett’s leadership, the firm is seen as a go-to resource for corporations seeking sale leaseback capital, developers seeking partners for build-to-suits, and institutions seeking operating partners and co-investors. The firm is uniquely positioned to invest in real estate assets throughout their life cycles - at development inception, during construction, and at construction completion. Investing at various stages throughout an asset’s life cycle has provided the firm with a competitive advantage, enabling it to acquire assets and generate return premiums to assets in the broader market. Pruett believes successful investing requires looking forward, anticipating change, and identifying opportunities for growth. The firm does this by targeting institutional quality, modern assets for investment that are flexible in design to accommodate today’s needs as well as user’s future needs. The new construction and operational criticality of the assets the firm acquires, combined with the attractive basis at which they are being acquired, produces assets the firm believes have high residual values and long-term prospects for appreciation. Mr. Pruett and his firm are viewed by the market as reliable and experienced investors that act quickly and decisively. Pruett believes the firm has been very careful about how it has invested capital and as a result has generated a successful track record over a number of economic cycles. Moving forward, Pruett believes the substantial liquidity within the markets, and foreign and institutional investors’ continued search for yield, will mute the impact of the pandemic’s lingering effects on certain sectors of the real estate market including resilient income producing assets. The ongoing, but lifting, limitations on indoor space usage and continuing governmental restrictions, according to Pruett, point to an extended recovery for the broader economy and continued uncertainty for occupiers and investors. He believes, however, that the commercial real estate markets are projected to rebound faster than the overall economy due to a number of factors, including the substantial amount of liquidity available for real estate investment. Amid the continuing uncertainty, the firm believes resilient income producing properties, such as the industrial, life science office, and R&D assets they target for investment, will benefit as many of the traditional institutional real estate sub-sectors will continue to face significant structural headwinds. When asked for an outlook for the real estate sector, Pruett responded that he believes the industrial, life science office, and R&D sectors will continue to be some of the sectors least impacted by the pandemic and among some of the first to recover post pandemic presenting investors with attractive investment opportunities. He believes certain other sectors will take years to recover as the impact of the pandemic fades. Over the long-term, he believes high quality institutional assets will outperform lower class assets in most sectors. In the post pandemic world, Pruett believes the companies that bring their employees together in person will gain a competitive advantage over those that do not. Over time Pruett believes this competitive advantage will widen and generate some of the new dominant corporations and innovators of the future.

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