As we enter the last quarter of 2007, it is hard to believe that the first year of my term as president of the New England Chapter of SIOR is drawing to a close. It is also a good time to reflect on what we have accomplished over the past year, and what remains to be done. Among the top 5 goals we established for the chapter at the beginning of this year were:
1) Develop stronger programs for our breakfast events;
2) Attract sponsors for our programs and events;
3) Deliver more value to our members;
4) Re-establish our annual golf outing;
5) Establish a scholarship program to help encourage young commercial real estate professionals to attend SIOR educational courses and pursue the SIOR designation;
I am happy to report that we have made substantial progress on each of these goals over the past 9 months. Under the able guidance of programs co-chairs Jim Boudrot and Ned Leeming, our breakfast events have reached a higher level in terms of quality, value and participation. The breakfast events are a series of 6 programs presented throughout the year at the Newton Marriott Hotel on Rte. 128. These programs run for 2 hours starting at 7:30 a.m. include a full breakfast, and feature a presentation by a guest developer, investor, or landlord. This year's series was kicked off in January with a presentation by the RREEF Fund, followed in April by the Gutierrez Company, and Gale Internationale's presentation in June. After pausing for the summer months, we started off September with a presentation by Boston Properties, which will be followed by Dacon Corp. in October, and our last breakfast program of the year in November featuring The New Boston Fund. All of these events have been well attended and deliver value to chapter members and invited guests. In addition, all of the presenters named above were also sponsors of the breakfast events, and the Chapter would like to thank them for their support and contribution toward making these programs a success.
On the sponsorship front, we continue to make strides in securing quality sponsors for our events. As I mentioned above, another goal for this year was to re-start our annual golf outing. A committee consisting of programs co-chairs Jim Boudrot and Ned Leeming, together with Greg Klemmer, chapter vice president and treasurer, and John Cissel, put together a successful golf outing last May at Turner Hill Country Club in Ipswich. The day started with lunch at 12:00 p.m., followed by 18 holes of very challenging golf. The day ended with cocktails and hors d'oeuvres, and the presentation of awards. The event was sponsored by Vantage Builders, Inc. John Connor, principal of Vantage, has been a strong supporter of the New England chapter and has joined SIOR this past year as an associate member.
Personally, the highlight of the year was the establishment of a scholarship program, which is aimed at encouraging young "up and coming" commercial real estate brokers to further their education and pursue the SIOR designation. The scholarship provides the resources to pay for the cost of taking an SIOR educational course, and attending an SIOR national conference. This year's winner will be going to St. Louis to take course 200, and attend the fall conference, which will take place November 6-11. The winner of the scholarship will be announced at a reception to be held on October 23rd at the BC Club, which will be attended by chapter members and invited guests. Also attending will be the incoming national president of SIOR, Randall Walker, and Diana Lee, national director of chapter relations. This scholarship will be presented annually to the individual selected from a group of qualified candidates nominated by chapter members. I would like to thank Garry Holmes, chairman of the scholarship committee, and fellow committee members Greg Klemmer, Bob Cleary, and Tom Farrelly for all of their efforts in getting this program off the ground.
As we look forward to 2008, there is still much more to accomplish. Any association or organization is only as good as its members. Currently the New England chapter of SIOR has 62 active members. Our goal is to have more active participation by our existing members, and also increase our membership by identifying and recruiting candidates that meet the SIOR membership requirements. The potential new members we will be recruiting will not only include commercial real estate brokers; we will also be actively recruiting associate members that are involved in related fields. The difference between the two is that associate members do not hold the SIOR designation. The key to more active participation by existing members is to present quality programs on topics that are timely, and deliver value to our members. We will continue to focus on this as we move forward in 2008.
We have made great progress this past year in reaching our goals, and we will continue to strive for improvement in the coming year. Nobody does it alone. I have been very fortunate to be surrounded by great people, who have made my job easy and enjoyable. In closing I would like to thank the following individuals who have given their time to serve on the board of directors this past year; Greg Klemmer, Jim Boudrot, Ned Leeming, Peter Hayes, Garry Holmes, Bob Cleary, Tony McDonald, Jim Nicoletti, Robert Nahigian, and Tom Farrelly.

Mark Stevens, SIOR, is the president of the New England SIOR chapter and is principal of The Stevens Group, Boston.