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NEW YORK CITY—Delivering news of the AREW/NYCREW merger to a crowd of 190 members and guests of the two groups, board members past and present as well as officers of the newly formed CREW New York spoke of the importance of the occasion Tuesday in Midtown as well as what the joining together will mean for members. The merger was first announced on GlobeSt.com yesterday.
“This has been a big year for AREW and it's going to get even bigger,” Faith Hope Consolo, chairman of Douglas Elliman's Retail Group, told GlobeSt.com in this UPDATE. She has been appointed chairman emeritus of CREW New York and will serve in an advisory capacity to the board of the newly merged organization. Currently a board member of NYCREW and a national director of CREW Network, Consolo also is a past president of AREW as well as the creator and a recipient of the organization's highest honor, the Founders' Award.
“We're going to cover a lot more ground and educate members more on the global reach,” she added. “There are members of both organizations who don't know how much is out there for them for networking and mentoring, and it will enhance our charitable contributions.”
Also speaking to GlobeSt.com, 2014 AREW president Erin Bond, assistant dean of the Center for Real Estate Studies, New York Law School said, “This was a couple of years in the making and then in this final year we were ironing out details. It will mean we'll have one set of programming so people can go to everything and there won't be competing audiences for a luncheon today and an evening event tomorrow. We'll still have those functions but there will be one set of them and we will offer different discussions that engage various sections of the industry. Crew NY will be an amazing, powerful force for women in the industry.”
After receiving a standing ovation following her introduction, AREW founder and first president Merle Gross Ginsburg told the audience, “As women we've been advised not to make waves or raise our hands to be noticed. You are working in one of the most exciting and complicated times. Make the most of your time and talents, support one another and lead a meaningful life. I believe in looking forward and urge you to support this moment of change.”
Further endorsing the merger, CREW Network CEO Gail Ayers noted, “You have 9,500 friends now in all forms of real estate and you're going to see the quality of networking and mentoring get even better.”
Women still face a battle in terms of gaining an equal footing to men, she asserted, but “major change for women in the industry is coming.”
Scroll down to see more photos from the event.
As part of its 25th anniversary, CREW Network will be featured as a special cover story of the December issue of Real Estate Forum. For more information on the issue and opportunities to participate, please contact Gregg Christensen at (212) 457-9664.
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Rayna Katz
Rayna Katz is a seasoned business journalist whose extensive experience includes coverage of the lodging sector, travel and the culinary space. She was most recently content director for a business-to-business publisher, overseeing four publications. While at Meeting News, a travel trade publication, she received a Best Reporting award for a story on meeting cancellations in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina.
