Thank you for an incredible year as NHCIBOR president - by Kathy DeMello

As Old Blue Eyes sang – “And now, the end is near and so I face the final curtain” – of my NHCIBOR/NECPE presidency. It’s been an incredible and fast paced year that went at the speed of light. We’ve accomplished much.

We have a strategic plan in place that meets National Association of Realtors Core Standards and will serve as the basis for the next few years to manage and grow the organization.

We are well on our way to state certification for commercial realtors with a preliminary curriculum, budget, and roll-out date of mid-2018.

We continually come within 1% of our forecasted vs. actual budget thanks to the hard work of our executive committee.

We’ve negotiated and signed a new 3-year contract with Catylist, the platform provider for NECPE, New England’s finest web site for commercial real estate listings. The contract will allow us to make continually improvements to enhance your listings.

Our education committee worked hard to provide educational programs that are second to none and have an even more excited agenda outlined for our members in 2018.

Our membership committee worked diligently to bring in new members, ending the year with a 10% growth in membership year over year.

Through our public policy committee we continue to write and submit opinions in support o our lobbyists on a state and national level.

I cannot give enough thanks to the incredible NHCIBOR and NECPE boards for their support and involvement they gave this year. There was plenty of heavy lifting to be done and they stepped up to the challenge. These members that serve are well educated and successful in their field, professional and opinionated, which made for some very lively board meetings. Thank you all! A special thanks to Allison Ropes, our executive administrator, who always looks out for us and keeps us in line.

I will be moving on to duties of past president, chairing NHCIBOR’s public policy committee and working at the state level as chair of professional development. Yes, my calendar will continue to be full!

We had the unique opportunity to have both Governor Sununu and Taylor Caswell, the new Department of Business and Public Policy Committee, in recent weeks. Both are committed to bringing the New Hampshire Advantage back to the state, are bullish on our economy and willing to take the message on the road to recruit new business to the state and grow the economy. We all agree there are challenges in this endeavor – lack of work force housing, attracting and/or keeping young professionals local, the high cost of energy in New Hampshire, and the state’s incredibly low unemployment rate. NHCIBOR is ready to help move the message forward.

Thank you to the publishers of NEREJ for giving me this opportunity to talk to each of you this year. And thank you to the boards on which I have served, and will continue to serve, for giving me the opportunity to learn and grow in this great profession. I hope I served you well. See you soon!

Kathy DeMello is the 2017 president of the NH CIBOR, Bedford, N.H.