Message from Barbara Champoux, past president of the New York CREW Network

Founded in 1989, CREW Network is the commercial real estate industry's premier networking organization dedicated to supporting the achievements of women in the industry. It currently has over 8,000 senior real estate professionals as members, who are located in 74 major markets across North America. NYCREW Network, CREW's oldest New York chapter, was formed in 2001 to provide opportunities for women to achieve success in commercial real estate through power, influence and opportunity. As such, they are seriously committed to "doing business" together, and the organization is geared towards supporting and encouraging that commitment. NYCREW is a diverse network of professionals known for the quality they bring to the commercial real estate industry. Its members represent a broad range of disciplines within the commercial real estate industry including: financial services, asset and property management, developers, owners and operators, investment and property brokerage firms, appraisers, accountants, architects, attorneys and consultants. They are active in a wide range of industry segments, such as retail, hospitality, mixed use, industrial, office and transportation. As such, our members serve as wonderful resources for each other to create innovative ways of structuring deals, focus on the bottom line and inspire others to work together as a team. Collaboration - not competition, are the watchwords among our members, who believe the success of each member is success for all members. We seek to provide you not only with the opportunities to succeed, but with the tools. In that spirit, we are pleased to welcome this month's new members: Annmarie Dicola of Trepp LLC; Sun-Sun De Swaan of Glocap; and Esen Edip of Titles of NY; and extend our thanks to NYCREW committee chairs: Lucy Gardner Carter of Ted Moudis Associates and Tracey Daniels, Esq. of Hartman & Craven LLP for being such effective advocates of NYCREW-we are fortunate to have them on our 2012 leadership team. NYCREW also applauds our other committee leaders for their steadfast commitment and excellent work: Erin Beitz of Berkshire Property Advisors and Kate Murphy of CIBC, on a hot streak for us in successful underwriting; Zoe Davidson of MTA Capital Construction and Lorraine Mazza of ICSC, producing phenomenal programming; and our media guru and special advisor extraordinaire, Faith Hope Consolo of Prudential Douglas Elliman Retail Group. On June 7th, NYCREW will proudly present its 2012 Dig This career day, thanks to the driving forces of Pauline Anderson Brown of Fidelity National Title Insurance Co. and Beth Zafonte of Akerman Senterfitt LLP, and all of our participating members and friends. Our DIG This program is a remarkable career education and mentoring partnership between NYCREW Network and Girls Quest, designed to develop relationships inspiring young women to grow. Through Dig This, NYCREW and Girls Quest will participate in the national CREW Careers: Building Opportunities Program, developed over 10 years ago by CREW Foundation to encourage young women to pursue careers in commercial real estate, while empowering them with other necessary skills to succeed. Through this collaboration, teen girls from around N.Y.C. will be taking hammers and slide rules to the glass ceiling in commercial real estate. For more information on this event and others, see our website www.nycrew.org. Barbara Champoux, Esq., is a partner at Crowell & Mooring LLP and a past president at NYCREW Network, New York, N.Y.