It is an exciting time for the New York City Chapter as we continue to tackle the challenges of an uncertain corporate real estate market. Chapter Leadership and the Board have been focused on expanding educational programs, networking opportunities and knowledge-sharing events, while evaluating the issues, initiatives and resources that are truly the most valuable to our membership.

We have completed our annual sponsorship drive and are happy to report that we are surpassed our budget by 25%. We are extremely grateful to have several new Platinum Sponsors including Ted Moudis Associates, CBRE and Newmark Knight Frank. We want to thank all of our sponsors for their support of this chapter. Also, thanks to Joe Brancato of Gensler and the Sponsorship Committee for making this year’s drive a huge success.

We are also extremely proud to report that the chapter is growing again. In the last three months alone we have added 30 new members, bringing our total membership to 590. We have also provided assistance to 17 members-in-transition and the chapter has helped connect several members with new job opportunities. Thanks to Hussain Ali Khan and the Membership Committee for the great work they are doing to recruit and retain members.

Our 19th Annual Dinner at the spectacular Museum of Modern Art sold out within a matter of days and was an amazing evening attended by nearly 600 industry leaders. Lucy Carter and the Annual Dinner Committee put in enormous time and effort to create an extraordinary evening. We are already looking ahead to hosting a “Back to School” networking event for members in September that will be similar to our New Year’s event. Stay tuned for more information on this event in the next month or two.

Our Education and Programs committees have merged into one Learning Committee, which will help serve chapter membership even more effectively. Chaired by Lou Nowikas, the Learning events and programs will be defined by their substance rather than their format, whether they are luncheon panel discussions, seminars, roundtables or site tours. Our goal is to supply members with the most useful tools to develop effective strategies and overcome the hurdles they face today. The Learning Committee’s February program addressed the impact of corporate mergers on corporate real estate and the implementation of post-merger integration plans, while the recent April workshop focused on New York City’s new energy bills, the “Greater, Greener Buildings Plan,” and their impact on corporate tenants.

Following the lead of CoreNet Global’s Communities, which bring together similarly-focused members worldwide, the New York City Chapter is especially proud to launch local Communities in the following areas: Strategy & Portfolio Planning (SPP), Women’s Community and Sustainability. Each Community is open to End-User and Service-Provider Members, and provides a forum for ongoing collaboration among members to share critical knowledge and discover solutions to common problems they are facing in the New York metropolitan area. Organizing committees for each Community have been assembled and are currently mapping out events and initiatives for the year.

Our executive SIGS, chaired by Barry Alton, continue to host high-level roundtable discussions over dinner several times a year. These smaller, more intimate gatherings of senior level End-User members help promote valuable knowledge sharing among the leaders of New York’s corporate real estate industry.

The Young Leaders, led by new co-chairs Ashley Rigby and Marisa Falletta, kicked off the year with a LEED 10 expert panel, followed by a roundtable discussion on sustainability. The always-popular Meet & Greet in March was a huge success with nearly 70 in attendance. Finally, our YL’s held a Community Reinvestment Challenge mentoring event with Opportunities for a Better Tomorrow in early April.

These are several exciting events for all members scheduled during the next several weeks including a luncheon program on smart workplace trends in May; the 2010 Eastern Regional Symposium held this year at the University of Pennsylvania on June 7 and 8, followed by MCR courses on June 9 and 10; as well as the Annual Golf Tournament on July 12 and our Back To School networking reception in early September. We look forward to seeing you at an upcoming event!


Dale Schlather, Chapter Chair

NYC Chapter CoreNet Global