CREW Boston president's message: Final thoughts

This is my final article as CREW Boston president, and, as with all good things, I am both happy and nostalgic to see the year come to a close and turn over the reins to Leslie Cohen, principal and executive vice president of development at Samuels & Associates. It's been a busy year at CREW Boston. We achieved many milestones in the last 12 months: * We hit an all-time membership high of 557. * Our Mentor Committee marked its first year as a stand-alone committee with 36 mentor pairs. * We voted to change our name to CREW Boston from NEWiRE to reflect our broader focus and outreach. * We awarded three CREW convention scholarships this year helping first-time attendees to enjoy this year's national convention in Seattle. * Our Educational Foundation awarded two $5,000 scholarships to two women attending Harvard's Graduate School of Design. * We had a total of 51 sponsors. And we continued to provide high quality programing from our luncheons to professional seminars to property tours. We could not do what we do as an organization without all of our sponsors. I would specifically like to recognize the impressive members of our commercial real estate community who served with me on this year's Board: * Leslie Cohen, president elect, principal and executive vice president of development at Samuels & Associates; * Gayle Bourdeau, immediate past president, vice president, associate senior underwriter at Stewart Title Commercial Services; * Cara Nelson, Clerk, partner at DLA Piper; * Angela Parziale, treasurer, shareholder of Walter & Shuffain; * Lauren Armstrong, partner at Rackemann, Sawyer & Brewster; * Robyn Duffy, portfolio manager at Jamestown Properties; * Pam Fisher, principal at Construction Coordinators; * Laura Gregoriadis, principal at DiCicco Gulman & Company * Sarah Lagosh, director at Eastdil Secured * Lisa Serafin, principal at Redgate Real Estate Advisors; * Cheeta Soga, consultant with Nitsch Engineering; and * Joan Parsons, CREW Network delegate, senior partner at Riemer & Braunstein. Last June as I took the reins from Gayle Bourdeau, I asked members to look within and outside at fellow CREW Boston members and GET INSPIRED. After a year as CREW Boston president, what inspires me is all the wonderful women around me. I am inspired by the commitment and hard work of my fellow board members and the dedicated committee members. I am inspired by our Legacy Members who represent an incredible depth of experience and knowledge. I am inspired by our newer and younger members who engage and become a part of CREW Boston. I am so appreciative of the opportunity to be President of this wonderful organization. Cheers to a great and inspirational summer! Claudia Piper, senior vice president at Webster Bank, is the 2014-2015 president of CREW Boston. To learn more about CREW Boston and upcoming events visit www.crewboston.org or follow us on Twitter @CREWBoston.