CIBS is celebrating 18 years with continued growth, success

Ten years ago I wouldn't have thought it would happen, but I'm now back at the helm of CIBS. My last stint as president was back in 1998-1999. The organization is now entering its 18th year and I was involved from its early development and I have been very happy to contribute to its continued growth and success. A few changes should be spoken about: Started during Jeff Schwartzberg tenure, CIBS has been trying to engage the younger generation into the managing of CIBS. The fruition of those efforts has manifested itself this upcoming year with the addition of Kyle Burkhart to our executive board and Dan Gazzola and Alberto Fiorini to our general board. We also have a new appointed board member category called, "associate board member" and Marrisa Kamitz and Mario Assaro will be contributing under this category for 2011. CIBS has traditionally been politically ambivalent, this has been slowly changing and while we generally won't be supporting individual politicians, we will be supporting development friendly legislation and sustainable development efforts. We currently have a strategic alliance with Association for a Better Long Island (ABLI), Long Island Builders Institute (LIBI) and LIBOR which bring the breadth of our voice to over 30,000 members (read voters). We have started an initiative to survey and catalogue the CIBS membership to see which members currently hold public offices, and there are many. We want to access where our capital stock is with people in places of influence. Lastly, the results of many of the major issues that the CIBS Board deliberates over each month will be highlighted and communicated to the general membership immediately following our board meetings; we want everyone involved and will be trying to make access easier for members to better understand the issues. We will be embracing social media more as a communication tool to our members and will attempt to produce short two to three minute video interviews with Long Island's movers and shakers as they relate to commercial real estate, brokerage and the Long Island economy. And off we go... David Pennetta is the current president of the Commercial Industrial Brokers Society, Jericho, N.Y.