I am so excited and honored to be your CREW Chicago President for 2010 and 2011.  

I love this great organization and have been an active member for16 years.  I owe the success of my career to many of the women in CREW Chicago and now in CREW Network.  Many of my closest friends are members of CREW and now it is time to give back.

First, I want to thank Cindy Wozny-Carl, our recent past president for her commitment and leadership the last two years.  These were challenging times, yet with her guidance and the help of the CREW Chicago Board, Committee Chairs, Co-Chairs and member support, our membership is at its all time highest level and the quality of our new members exceeds all our expectations.  CREW Chicago raised money at our annual fundraiser, Last Call for Fall and we distributed a total of $9000 to three very qualified young women to help with their advancement in commercial real estate.  The accomplishments under her leadership the last two years go on and on and we owe much appreciation to Cindy for her dedication to the success of the CREW Chicago organization.  Thanks Cindy.

So what’s in store for 2010?

In effort to assure we are meeting the needs of our organization, the CREW Chicago Board of Directors, the Committee Chairs and Co-Chairs will be attending an annual strategy review retreat in mid-January to assess our mission and vision and assure we are heading in the right direction.  Our strategy is to set goals and priorities for 2010 and to clarify committee tactics for implementing our plan.

The results of the strategy review meeting will be rolled out over the next few weeks and we will keep you all informed through weekly e-blasts and updates on the CREW Chicago website.

Yes, we are in challenging economic times, however, we have great talent and knowledge among us and I know we can pull together as an organization, weather the storm and become better prepared when the economy turns around and blasts us with opportunities to advance ourselves further in commercial real estate.

If you have not yet joined this great group of women, please make 2010 the year. Join, get involved and you will build lasting friendships, with smart people you can turn to for support, contacts or a bit of advice. We ultimately want to help each other succeed.

I am genuinely proud of being your President and I want to thank you for giving me the privilege of serving CREW Chicago and look forward to meeting those I haven’t met and working (and playing) together with all of you.