As I embark on this last month of my tenure as IREM Boston Chapter President, it’s hard to believe all we’ve been through together – individually, as an industry, and as an organization – over the last two years.

This year we continued to build on the progress we made in 2021 – growing chapter membership, promoting professional designations, enhancing the awareness of IREM, leveraging virtual and remote learning capabilities, promoting and utilizing the IREM Foundation, growing our educational programs on the local level, and focusing on diversity, equity and inclusion. We have further developed our resiliency and creative problem-solving abilities, and continue to put these practiced skills to good use for our companies, for our residents, and for ourselves.

One of the biggest joys I have experienced during my tenure as president has been the gradual return of our in-person events. As fantastic as technology has been to let us continue learning or meeting when being in-person wasn’t an option, there’s nothing that can replace the feeling I get when I walk into one of our in-person events and feel the positive energy that hums throughout the space. It’s here where relationships are established, where ideas are shared, where friendships flourish.

We still face numerous challenges in our industry, but I have seen that, as an organization, we have the ability to meet these issues head on, in large part because of the relationships we forge and the shared desires we hold to make our industry better. This, I feel, encapsulates the spirit of IREM Boston.

It’s been my true honor to lead the Boston Chapter of the Institute of Real Estate Management, and I now look forward to doing all I can to support our new president and his goals for the organization.

With best wishes and sincere gratitude, Melissa Fish-Crane.

Melissa Fish-Crane is the 2022 president of IREM Boston and principal & COO at the Peabody Properties.