CoreNet NE president’s message: Opportunities to connect and learn - by Maureen Rystrom

It’s hard to believe we are already in the midst of the holiday season. Especially during this time of year, I invite you all to look for those new opportunities to connect and feel gratitude. We’ve accomplished a significant amount in the past few months and we deserve to celebrate. Please take two minutes out of your day to let someone know what you appreciate or want to celebrate about them. This has an exponentially positive impact on your mood and spreads happiness to those around you. During the recent CoreNet Global Summit in Chicago, the opening session was led by positive psychology expert and author Shawn Achor, who shared with us the hidden factor in human happiness potential: a conscious mindset shift. In his book, Big Potential, he discusses how our greatest competitive advantage is a happy and engaged brain. We can directly access this “happiness advantage” through social connection - something our chapter is very good at!

Don’t miss out on some exciting new events and programs from our chapter in the New Year! If you’re interested in joining the CoreNet community, sign up now and save 15% on your membership using Promo Code: RENE15. Some would rather try before they buy, so we’re happy to offer a 30-Day Trial Membership. Check our website for more info. For any membership or sponsorship related questions, please reach out to Karyn Houde, our executive director.

From November 1-3, the New England Chapter, among many others from across the globe, met in Chicago at the CoreNet Global North America Summit to engage in insightful conversations about the future of work, how we approach it and where it happens. There were abundant opportunities for networking and learning, with sessions focused around the alignment of sustainability and diversity goals within the workplace and built environment. On the final day, we celebrated at the Awards Recognition Dinner, our chapter being a top three finalist for Large/Mega Chapter of the Year.

I’d like to take a moment to acknowledge the contributions our New England chapter has made in the corporate real estate industry and community at large. Our CoreNet Global New England Chapter is now a CREST (Commercial Real Estate Success Training) “Champion,” which means that our commitment and financial support of this paid internship program will help provide meaningful summer internships, along with personal and professional skills development, to highly motivated and talented college students who have been historically underrepresented in our industry.

We’re continuing to champion and to create a benchmark for engaging with early career professionals in our industry. The Young Leaders Professional Development Program 2022 Cohort held their final presentation, ‘Building Community in a Hybrid Workplace,’ on Tuesday, November 15^th at the Toast Headquarters. The panel discussed how to bridge the gap between leadership and employees, and between expectations and flexibility when it comes to shaping a culture that supports the current state and future of work. Congratulations to the 2022 cohort for a fantastic presentation! A reminder that applications for the 2023 Cohort were due Wednesday, November 30^th. The University Relations committee’s 2022-2023 campus roadshow is also well underway. The committee is visiting Boston’s key colleges and universities to raise awareness of careers in corporate real estate and, hopefully, engage more students and young professionals in CoreNet.

To help the chapter with our collective goal to build diversity in our industry representation for 2023, we’re designing programs to create value for members and sponsors alike. Our Think Tank led a visioning session led by Steven Weikal from the MIT Center for Real Estate on November 30^th which resulted in topics, themes and learnings that we’re confident you will only find at CoreNet New England programs. With speakers including Sarah Abrams from Iron Mountain, Dominic Endicott of Northstar Ventures and VC of Nauta Capital, Paolo Santi of MIT’s Senseable City Lab, Suleiman Alhadidi from the Harvard University Graduate School of Design, Kay Sargent with HOK and Halle Thomas of Millennium Partners, this session has succeeded in bringing to the forefront trends and major issues that will impact CRE in the coming years. We look forward to sharing this content and programming with our community in the very near future.

Our annual Holiday Party, hosted by the Young Leaders Committee and sponsored by Red Thread/Steelcase and BostonArt, welcomed all members, sponsors and friends to celebrate an excellent year with us at BostonArt on Thursday, December 8^th from 5:30-8:30 p.m. Registration is now open on the website and we also invite our guests to help us in supporting the Boys and Girls Club of Boston’s Holiday Gift Program to help meet the needs of children in the Boston area around the holidays. Your valued participation helps make this time of year even more exciting and fun for Club members while eliminating the burden of additional financial stress on its families. Details on how to give are on the registration page.

Maureen Rystrom is the president/chair of CoreNet Global New England Chapter and vice president of marketing | partner at J. Calnan & Associates, Quincy, Mass.