The Real Estate Finance Association’s Year in Review - With over 700 members

Boston, MA The Real Estate Finance Association wrapped up its 2020 Mentorship Program on November 19^th. The mentor/mentee pairs meet regularly throughout the year, giving mentees the opportunity to gain knowledge from seasoned members of the industry. This year’s virtual wrap-up event featured two pairs who led a discussion highlighting some of the successes and challenges of the mentor program this year. Other mentors and mentees joined the conversation to share their experiences from this past year and engage with other program participants. REFA’s next Mentor-Mentee program will begin in early 2021. 

On December 8^th, REFA hosted its last event of the year – the REFA Annual Fall Conference. The program included a conversation with Joanne Chang, Flour Bakery and Rick Henken, president, The Schochet Companies on “Community, Communication, and Managing Retail & Restaurant Space in COVID-19 Times.” The keynote was followed by a panel discussion on the “Future of Investing: Environmental – Social – Governance.”  Maura Hodge, partner, Audit, U.S. Sustainability (ESG) Practice Leader, KPMG moderated the ESG panel with Laura McDonough, director, private investments, SCS Financial; Ben Myers, vice president, sustainability, Boston Properties; and Brian Swett, head of the Boston office of Arup.

As we wrap up another remarkable year for REFA, we look to some of its highlights: 

• 700+ members, including 250+ Emerging Leaders, 110 Corporate Sponsors, and over 200 committee members.

• Nine timely virtual education events and webinars featuring some of the industry’s most notable names.

• Our first ever REFA College Connection with 140+ attendees from 30 colleges all over the east coast.

• An elevated focus on our commitment to DEI within REFA and the broader CRE industry, including ample support from our 34 person DEI committee. 

REFA would like to thank all of the speakers, members, and Corporate Sponsors for their help and support of our organization in 2020! We look forward to working together in 2021!

To learn more, visit our website at www.REFA.org. Follow us on Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn @REFABoston.