BOMA/New York interviews presidential nominee, Kleeman

Jim Kleeman, BOMA

New York, NY Interview with BOMA/New York presidential nominee James Kleeman, RPA. 

Q. What’s your #1 focus as you look toward leading BOMA/NY?

A. It always comes back to delivering value to the owners and companies we serve. Every program and event must benefit our members in terms of the time and money they invest in BOMA/New York.

Q. Value has many meanings; what’s your interpretation?

A. Value must be defined in tangible terms. A good example is our Issue Forums, where we bring in the best experts possible on the given topic, to give attendees hands-on, practical information they can apply the minute they return to their offices. Another example is the work done by our committees. The issues they take on have direct influence on the bottom line; energy alone is one of the largest components of an operating budget. We’re still conceptualizing an approach, but we’ll be casting a wider net, and looking to our strong talent pool to assist us in more effectively serving our membership.

Q. Tell us about your goals?

A. My immediate goals will be to invest in our people, technology and program excellence to bring value back home to the buildings. One of my first steps will be to assemble a team to develop a Long-Range Strategic Plan that maps out our goals and member benefits for 1, 2, 5 years and beyond.

Q. What are your plans to accomplish these goals?

A. I plan on having town halls with the allied, professional and principal members to collect their ideas. Their feedback will be essential to creating our strategic plan and functioning at our optimal, member-responsive level. I’m looking forward to addressing the needs of the Millennials and up-and-comers of our industry...to listen to their questions and needs so we can improve their BOMA/New York experience, career paths and more, while providing them with a vital member benefit: the expertise and knowledge of our seasoned professionals. We’ll need to maximize technology and social media, wherever it can serve us best. I can see us capitalizing on the lessons learned by BOMA International, which has a very active and effective mobile technology program. I’m also looking forward to hearing the ideas of the committee chairs and bringing them to the board meetings to enhance collaboration between all leadership components of BOMA/New York.

Q. And as for your goal of excellence?

A. It’s going to take effort, but let’s raise the bar across all platforms within BOMA/New York and our outside relationships, with fellow associations and government organizations. For more than a decade, we’ve been the pragmatic voice and source of technical expertise on critical codes and laws, and have helped the industry mitigate its exposure to unnecessary regulation. Our voice is stronger than ever; I want to keep that momentum going. And I would like New York City to raise its BOMA 360 profile. It’s time for us to claim the excellence of that certification as ours and deliver one more BOMA/New York value to the bottom line.