This past February, AIR CRE hosted an event at NoMad hotel in DTLA designed with the specific intention to bring the young, future leaders of the CRE industry together. After 20 years at AIR CRE, I’m certainly no stranger to seeing brokers at every stage of their career, but as I looked around the room on this night, I was struck by the energy of these women and men, all in the early stages of what will be an exciting journey to career success.
Every single exchange I had that evening reinforced one main takeaway: these brokers were thrilled to have an opportunity to expand their network and mingle with brokers and industry pros from various backgrounds and organizations. The excitement of this group, coupled with overwhelming positive feedback, was very encouraging. I realized this next generation of young CRE leaders who have access to so many incredible tools and resources, are still hungry for actual person-to-person connections. These young professionals clearly understand that at the end of the day…it’s a relationship business.
I find myself more determined than ever, both personally and on behalf of AIR CRE, to assist anyway we can in seeing that our young members receive the support they need as they navigate their way to success. As one of the industry’s leading organizations, it is our responsibility to create and deliver not only top of the line products and services to innovate our members’ way of conducting business, but to also create meaningful opportunities for mentorship and guidance for the young women and men looking to rise up in the ranks.
AIR CRE is the pipeline that connects CRE professionals throughout SoCal. We are determined to give our young members exciting opportunities to get involved with their peers and industry veterans through programs and initiatives, like our NoMad Mixer and a number of future events.
As I listened to what these young women and men told me at Nomad and what I’ve continuously heard out in the field, I am more certain than ever that our initiative, AIR CRE Next, is a great place for the organization to spend its resources and I look forward to helping these future leaders along the path to success.
I’d like young brokers, our entire body of members and any other reader to know that I’m not just listening; what I’ve heard from you directly has been invaluable information that has ignited a great call to action for this association. These new directives are constructed around and dependent upon your feedback and participation as the future generation of CRE leaders.
I welcome you to contact me to share your thoughts and encourage you to be a part of these next steps.
Sincerely,
Tim Hayes