In fact, National Realty Services, headed by Ronald A. Huff, can attest to being one of the area's few full service real estate companies for property management; design/build; construction management; brokerage functions, including sales, leasing, and consulting; property accounting; and real estate development.

Huff, who has more than 30 years experience in the development industry, established National Realty Services in 1991. He, along with several key associates at the company, has shaped the Columbus skyline for more than two decades as a principal in Vantage Companies and Galbreath/Huff.

Since 1976, Huff and associates have developed more than 15 million square feet of office, office/warehouse, retail, and industrial properties, resulting in $1 billion in real estate investments. No other individual is credited with the prosperous development of more real estate in central Ohio than Huff.

A visionary, Huff directs National Realty Services' strategic planning initiative and participates in all contract negotiations and financial decisions.

Major Columbus area developments include: The Continent, Westbelt and Westbelt West Business Parks, Crosswoods Center, Northeast Business Campus, and Port Columbus Executive Park.

Individual projects include: Pier One Imports in Grove City, Sumitomo Electric Wiring and Scotts Seed Company in Marysville, Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction administrative offices, The Columbus GftMart at 4200 Kimberly Parkway, and Nissan Westbelt facility in Columbus.

Past and current business relationships include projects at The Pontifical College Josephinum, Prudential Insurance Co., Huntington National Bank, Travelers Insurance, Metropolitan Insurance, Bank One, CIGNA Insurance, The Ohio State University, AT&T, Aetna Insurance Co., Cabot Industrial Trust, and Apollo Real Estate Advisors.

National Realty Services manages more than five million square feet of prime office and warehouse space. With an emphasis on tenant relations, facility maintenance and fiscal controls, the company has maintained a 90 percent retention rate for more than two decades.

Much of this success is attributed to the company's team of seasoned brokerage professionals who have an average of 15-plus years experience in the real estate industry.

In central Ohio, National Realty Services' brokers and associates participate in 40 percent of all leases and sales in suburban office and warehouse markets.

The company also boasts a turn around time of less than one year from groundbreaking to completion for many of its clients, including Pier One Imports, R.D. Zande Environmental Services the Ohio Rehabilitation Services Commission, Aetna Insurance, Federal Express, and the Huntington.

Huff is a graduate of Ohio State with a bachelor of science degree in civil engineering. He is a member of the Greater Columbus Chamber of Commerce and the Worthington Chamber of Commerce.

He also has served on the board of directors for several organizations, including the I-670 Corridor Development Corp., North Outerbelt Transportation Management Association, BalletMet, and Directions for Youth.

National Realty Services also has been a long and strong supporter of the Central Ohio IFMA Chapter as a corporate sponsor and through its associates. Tom Logsdon, the company's director of property services, has been an active chapter member since joining in 1989. Logsdon served as secretary for two years, chairman of the Education Committee, and as president in 1996.

Sponsor Spotlight Nationwide Insurance Co.

The similarities today between Nationwide Insurance Co. and its predecessor, the Farm Bureau Mutual Automobile Insurance Co., probably wouldn't fill more than a line or two of its most streamlined, one-vehicle protection policy.

The most noticeable probably is that the company is still headquartered in downtown Columbus--although for a few years it was just outside of what is considered the central business district--where its complex of buildings at Nationwide Plaza stands as the bulwark of the city's ever-changing Arena and Short North districts.

The company, quite obviously, remains well entrenched in the insurance business as the 30th largest insurance and financial services company in the world with more than $117 billion in statutory assets.

Recently, however, the company's interests moved into the world of entertainment with construction of such venues as Nationwide Arena, the Arena Grand Theatre, and the PromoWest Pavilion, all within a stone's throw of its corporate headquarters.

The arena, which opened in September 2000, is the home of the National Hockey League's newest team, the Columbus Blue Jackets, the National Lacrosse League's Columbus Landsharks, and a wide variety of world-class entertainment events. The company announced construction of the arena in 1997, just days after voters rejected a tax issue to provide a facility that would usher a major league sports program into the city.

Nationwide also has a strong track record for supporting organizations within its communities, including United Way, Habit for Humanity, the United Negro College Fund, The Ohio State University, the National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals, Columbus's Adopt-A-School Program, Hispanic Scholarship Fund, Inroads, and the Central Ohio IFMA Chapter.

Not only does Nationwide support the chapter as a sponsor, three employees of the company--Craig Thomas, Gary Nuss, and Shelly Sensenbrenner--are extremely active members of the organization.

Thomas is vice president of facility services for the company. He and a force of 380 people are responsible for managing all corporate-occupied property, a 5,000 automobile fleet, and security at the Nationwide complex and at many of the company's other holdings. Nuss, a past chapter president, is a senior project manager for Nationwide Realty Investors, and Sensenbrenner, a co-chair of the Membership Committee, is a design and architecture specialist in facility services.

The Ohio Farm Bureau Federation founded the company in 1925 because Farm Bureau leaders believed established insurers were overcharging farmers for insurance. The company began in a one-room office in downtown Columbus with a $10,000 loan, three employees, and 20 part-time agents.

Today, the company has more than 30,000 employees with approximately 16 million policies in force.

At the outset, the company offered only one product, auto insurance, and only to Ohio farmers. However, the company became so successful in providing quality auto insurance at low rates that rural drivers in other states became interested in what it had to offer, leading to expansion into West Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, Vermont, and North Carolina.

Today, Nationwide does business in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Canada, and the Virgin Islands. Internationally, Nationwide sells life and long-term savings products in Asia, Europe, and Latin America. The company also is:

· Fourth largest homeowner insurer based on premiums written.
· Sixth largest auto insurer based on premiums written.
· Sixth largest personal lines insurer based on premiums written.
· Largest provider of 457 deferred compensation plans.
· Largest writer of corporate-owned life insurance.
· Third largest writer of individual variable annuities.
· Third largest administrator of 401 (k) plans.
· Fifth largest provider of variable universal life.
· Sixth largest U.S. life insurer based on assets.

Nationwide moved into its current headquarters, a 40-story structure that is the largest single office building in Central Ohio, in 1978. The Nationwide complex now includes Two Nationwide Plaza, an 18-story building, with tenant space, that was completed in 1981; Three Nationwide Plaza, a 27-story building completed in 1989 for use by Nationwide; and Four Nationwide Plaza, a nine-story building completed in 2000. Combined, the buildings have more than 2.6 million square feet of space. The company also has properties in several suburban areas as well as in cities throughout the country.

Construction of the headquarters building initiated the revitalization of Columbus' once-blighted Short North District and has paved the way for more than $700 million in construction in that area. The same is occurring in the Arena District where new buildings and business opportunities are occurring almost daily.

Throughout its existence, Farm Bureau Mutual/Nationwide has been blessed with outstanding leadership from which both the company and Columbus have prospered.

The legendary Murray Lincoln, one of the company's founders, headed its operations for the first 38 years. A visionary leader, he pushed Nationwide's growth and expansion into diversified fields while serving as a national spokesman for the cooperative movement. Bowman Doss succeeded Lincoln in 1964.

Following Doss (1964-69) were George H. Dunlap (1969-72), Dean W. Jeffers (1972-81), John E. Fisher (1981-92), and Dimon R. McFerson, (1992-2000.) Today, W.G. Jurgensen, a former executive vice president of Bank One Corporation, heads the company which continues to attest: "Nationwide is on your side."