This is a special issue for us as it is our inaugural list of The Most Influential People in Real Estate & Technology. The decision was made last year to put a list of this nature together in an effort to recognize the leaders who work to shape our industry.

The difficulty in putting a list of this nature together is that there are so many people who are deserving it is almost impossible to narrow it down to just 25. Considering the diversity of our readership and our industry - spanning cable, Internet, property owners/developers, hotels, universities and many more groups - it would have been easy to come up with 100 names.

As you read over our list of The Most Influential People in Real Estate & Technology, you will find names that you are excited to see on the list. But you will also find names that you might want to debate. You may even think of people, who, you can't imagine how they were omitted. That is the fun of a list like this and we hope that you enjoy it.

On being influential

I wanted to take a moment to extend my thanks to the staff and the advisors of Broadband Properties for naming me as one of the industries most influential people. I look at the other names on the list and I am very honored to be considered among such company.

I also would like to congratulate everyone on this year's list and express my gratitude to them for taking the time out of their busy schedules to support our publication. I wish you all continued success in the year to come in helping to shape this great industry of ours.