John Greig officially took office as FIABCI President at the closing ceremony of the Federation’s 55th annual congress which took place in Houston (USA) from May 24-29 2004.
After opening his own real estate business in 1970, John Greig Real Estate, specialising in residential, commercial and industrial brokerage and letting, John Greig was first introduced to FIABCI at the world congress in 1973 which was held in his home town of Sydney. He joined the Federation that same year, and, indeed is one of FIABCI’s most longstanding members with over 30 years’ active service under his belt.
Greig has had a distinguished career in real estate, and throughout his career has dedicated himself to helping to raise the educational and ethical standards of the industry. He has held the following positions within Australian state and national trade organisations: President of the Real Estate Institute of NSW 1989-1991 and Life Fellow; President of the Real Estate Institute of Australia 1993-1995; Board Member & Trustee of the REIA superannuation fund; Past Chairman of the Real Estate Services Council of NSW (Government Licensing Body & Regulatory Board); Past Chairman of the NSW Property Industry Advisory Board.
In 2000 his achievements were recognised by his peers and he was awarded the Order of Australia medal for services to the real estate industry and the community.
Within FIABCI, Greig occupied a number of positions, including President of the Australian chapter 1993-1995 & 1997-1998 and Deputy World President for the Asia-Pacific region from 2000-2002.
During his first speech as President, John Greig indicated that his mission was to continue making FIABCI ever more relevant to the day-to-day business of its members, and that he expected the Internet and its associated technologies to play an ever-increasing role in realising this objective.
Greig explains : 'There is serious business to be done through the FIABCI international website fiabci.org which offers a tangible competitive advantage to all FIABCI members, as they are listed automatically free of charge when they join. Visitors to fiabci.org can therefore access these members’ sites directly, which opens up a wide range of valuable international market listings and tools at the click of a mouse. This is especially useful considering that FIABCI represents all property professions and sectors and is present in over 60 countries around the world. On a more humanistic note, I am intensely committed to the protection of private property rights as the basis of family security and economic freedom and under my leadership I hope to see FIABCI strengthening its partnership with the United Nations in this regard.'
Greig is only the second Australian president in the 50-plus year history of Fiabci, and his term of office will last until the 56th Fiabci world congress to be held in Athens (Greece) in May 2005.
Source: FIABCI