Salt Lake City's thriving commercial real estate market proved to be a fitting backdrop for the nearly 200 attendees of Commercial Real Estate Woman (CREW) Network's Winter Leadership Summit, held Feb. 6-7 in Utah's capital city. The event featured a two-day program of chapter leadership training, updates on CREW Network initiatives, information on the local CRE market, a business development session, and multiple networking opportunities.
Held three times a year, CREW Network summits serve as the organization's "leadership laboratories," where chapter delegates and other members receive leadership training, participate in association business, and demonstrate their skills in a supportive environment.
NEWiRE is the largest chapter in the CREW Network, and our delegates participate in these summits and bring back what they learn. However, in the coming year, our organization's presence will be elevated even further thanks to the efforts of Judy Nitsch, PE, LEED AP BD+C. Nitsch is a longtime member of NEWiRE and is now serving as 2014 CREW Network president.
We want to showcase Nitsch's accomplishments because she is a woman who leads by example. Nitsch is founding principal and chairman of Nitsch Engineering Inc., an 80-person Boston-based firm that provides civil engineering, land surveying, transportation engineering, planning, sustainable site consulting, and GIS services. As an active NEWiRE member, she has served on the steering, nominating, and program committees, and as a chair of the public strategies committee. She won NEWiRE's inaugural Entrepreneur Award and several NEWiRE Networking Awards, and served as co-chair of the 2001 CREW Network Convention in Boston.
Nitsch is a past president of the American Council of Engineering Companies of Mass. and the Boston Society of Civil Engineers Section/ASCE, and is a member of the Urban Land Institute. She has taught business development for the Society for Marketing Professional Services (SMPS) nationally for several years. In addition, she teaches educational sessions about sustainable site development and stormwater master planning. She is a fellow of ACEC, ASCE, SWE and SMPS. In 1989, she was elected the first alumna member to Worcester Polytechnic Institute's board of trustees, where she served as chair of the facilities committee for 16 years and as a member of the executive, advancement, and marketing committees. She is a trustee of Eastern Bank and a member of the board of directors of the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce, where she serves as co-chair of its real estate development committee.
Nitsch's experience and knowledge will undoubtedly serve her well as CREW Network president. We are very proud to have her representing our chapter. At the same time, I hope it will raise awareness that NEWiRE is part of a large, diverse network that is nearly 9,000 members strong. Our members have the contacts and resources to create new and different ways of structuring deals, to focus on the bottom line, and to inspire others to work as a team to get the job done—on a local, regional and national level.
To learn more about NEWiRE, visit www.newire.org, find us on LinkedIn, or follow us on Twitter @NEWiREBoston.
Gayle Bourdeau, vice president /associate senior underwriting counsel at Stewart Title Guaranty Co.-National Title Services, is the 2013-2014 president of New England Women in Real Estate (NEWiRE), Boston, MA.