UCLA’s information technology group, IS Associates, has honored a high-level executive with American Homes 4 Rent, the Agoura Hills real estate investment trust. Bryan Smith, an alumnus of the university and executive vice president of American Homes, was awarded the Executive Leadership Award, the university said, for his introduction and use of information technology to create a new model for renting properties. American Homes buys, renovates and rents single-family homes and is the country’s largest publicly traded, single-family home landlord. Smith, by using mobile technology, significantly accelerated the company’s process for reviewing homes for sale and then buying, renovating and leasing them across more than 40 markets in 22 states. Smith earned both a bachelor’s degree in business economics and a master’s in business from UCLA in 1996 and 2002, respectively. He’ll be honored at the IS Associates’ Executive Leadership Award Dinner Nov. 17 at UCLA. The award recognizes a senior general management executive who has introduced information systems into a company’s strategic and high-level decision-making processes.