The New England SIOR Chapter held its second annual Scholarship Award Night on Thursday, October 23rd at the BC Club, 100 Federal St. Approximately 50 SIORs and guests attended the event. The Scholarship Award is given by the Chapter to an "up and coming" Boston area commercial broker, with less than three years experience. The scholarship offers the broker the opportunity to attend an SIOR course at an SIOR National Convention. The Scholarship is named after Bob Holmes who served as New England Chapter president in the 1970s and was a long-time SIOR active member.
The evening included special guests: David Zimmer, SIOR national vice president; Diana Lee, vice president of Chapter Relations; and Karen Lewis, SIOR northeast regional director. Each said a few words about SIOR, the upcoming MN convention and the strength of the New England Chapter.
Mark Stevens, Chapter president, then announced that he was serving his last event as New England Chapter president as his term was expiring. He thanked everyone for allowing him to serve as Chapter president for the last two years and in particular his board officers, Greg Klemmer, Jim Boudrot, Ned Leeming, Tom Farrelly, Bob Cleary, Garry Holmes, Peter Hayes and Rob Nahigian. Stevens then announced the new chapter leadership team for 2009 and 2010: Greg Klemmer as the new Chapter president, Tom Farrelly as vice president, Jim Boudrot as treasurer and Tony McDonald as secretary. He explained that the reasons the officers serve the Chapter is to give something back to SIOR and to help younger brokers move up the ladder.
Stevens then described the Robert W. Holmes Scholarship as being established to provide young up and coming commercial real estate brokers with the opportunity to further their education and to learn more about SIOR and what it has to offer. The scholarship provides the funds to attend an SIOR educational course as well as the cost of attending an SIOR national conference. The scholarship is valued at $2,500.
He introduced the 2007 winner, Jeremy Freid to share his experience attending last year's St. Louis conference and taking his first SIOR course. Stevens then announced that the Chapter SIOR board elected this year's award to Tim Brodigan from Klemmer Associates. Brodigan started his career in 2003 specializing in the suburban market focusing on office and industrial transactions. To date he has been involved in over two million s/f of lease and sale transactions. He is a member of CBA, a founding member of the CBA Futures Leaders Committee, a member of the North Shore Chamber of Commerce, participates in the Greater Boston Big Brother Program and is involved in the DreamMaker program at the Boston Children's Hospital.
The Chapter would like to thank our sponsor Dyer Brown Architects for this event. The Chapter would also like to thank Mark Stevens for his tireless efforts in running the Chapter over the last two years. His contribution to SIOR and the New England Chapter has been well appreciated by its members and officers. He has also simultaneously served as the president of the Commercial Brokers Association. Thank you Mark, you have made a difference in our industry!