What a great turnout we had for this year’s 2^nd annual Summer Mixer hosted by our affiliate committee in conjunction with NHCIBOR Cares. Thank you to Scott Kingsley, chair of the Summer Mixer committee, for organizing such a large group. It was great to see our broker and affiliate members making new connections and enjoying a nice evening filled with good food, beer and wine tastings, and a great selection of door prizes and silent auction items.  

Thank you to our 24 sponsors and to everyone who donated a door prize or auction item. Because of your generosity, we were able to raise over $10,000 for NHCIBOR Cares! These funds will be deployed into the community to help a number of charitable organizations. We have donated over $50,000 in the last 10 years!

I would also like to say congratulations once again to our NHCIBOR Cares DeStefano/Barrett Legacy Award recipient, Ron Boufford!

The NHCIBOR Cares DeStefano/Barrett Legacy Award is bestowed upon a person well recognized for long-term participation in, contribution to, and success within the N.H. commercial real estate industry, and due to such efforts, has left a lasting and honorable legacy.

Ron was the owner of Global Real Estate & Global Lands of Bedford for decades. He sold all types of property, but was especially known for land assemblage and mill property brokerage. He perfected the method of telemarketing and creative signage, generating a ton of business. Ron trained and launched countless commercial realtors in the industry. He was dedicated to the industry’s governmental affairs efforts and was a key go-to realtor for a quote in the Union Leader throughout his career. He has since retired from brokerage and is now a collector and reseller of coins and political memorabilia. 

Ron is involved with a number of boards and charitable endeavors including, but not limited to, the Better Business Bureau of N.H. and Trustee of Neighborworks Southern N.H., as well as formerly serving on the board of directors of the Salvation Army for 20+ years. There is a much longer list of his past activities before his retirement including St. Francis of Assisi School Board, board of director of Chase Condominium Association, Manchester Housing Council, The Moore Center Services, and the Bedford Taxpayers Association.

Ron continues to be an active contributor to NHCIBOR Cares. Although retired, he joins us at most CIBOR get-togethers and still keeps a sharp eye on the market, often sending newspaper clippings of press releases or articles with notes of congratulations to those mentioned. He likes to challenge himself in seeing how many different stamps he can put on the envelope to add up to the correct postage! They are easily recognizable in the mail, and always a welcomed sight! Congratulations Ron, certainly well deserved. 

We look forward to our upcoming Summer Mixer in 2020 and hope to grow the event with more sponsors and attendees. In the meantime, please keep up with our various networking and continuing education programs by following the NHCIBOR Calendar at https://www.nhcibor.com/events/.

Douglas Martin is the 2019 president of NHCIBOR, Bedford, N.H.