The New England/Upstate NY CRE chapter officers held its second meeting this year to plan the remainder of programming for 2011. The meeting took place on April 26th in Boston. A number of agenda items were covered including: Treasurer's Report (Bob Costello) Costello, the chapter treasurer indicated that membership retention was high and that almost all Chapter dues have been received. The Chapter stands in a healthy fiscal position. CRE National Initiatives for Non-Profit CRE National sent letters during early April that the Board of Directors has decided to have Chapters file under the National CRE as 501 (c) 6 non-profit status. National will be processing the applications as part of an Alliance Agreement and pay for the associated costs. Review of 2011 Chapter Events 1. Thursday, Feb 3rd: Ray Torto, CRE of CBRE, Market Outlook, CBRE, Jill Hatton reported that approximately 23 people attended the Torto event the day after a blizzard had hit Boston once again. Torto held a Market Review from 30,000 feet and higher as a macro review of the U.S. economy and the Boston commercial market. The response was great and it was decided to ask Torto if he would hold the event again next year. There was good dialogue. 2. March 31st program, RICS joint event, Commercial RE Market Update; Federal Reserve. Hatton, CRE took the reins organizing this first time event with the New England RICS Chapter. Josh Scoville, CFA and director of strategic research for property and portfolio research was the speaker. The event was held at the Federal Reserve in Boston. Scoville provided a unique overview of the firm's US economic and real estate outlook. He offered additional detail and insight into the New England and Boston regions and supplemented Torto's presentation quite well. Approximately 18-20 members attended. The program want until 1:15 p.m. 3. Spring event suggestion with: Marti O'Mara, Corporate Real Estate Trends and Issues. It was decided to possibly hold a panel of CRE experts on corporate real estate workplace solution issues, accounting issues with GAAP and FASB and other trends. O'Mara is planning to organize a panel for a mid-June or September event. 4. Fall Event: Emmet Logue will contact the Appraisal Institute to see if there is any interest to run another event such as last year. The event could be in November. 5. Holiday Reception: Already reserved for December 15th, The Algonquin Club. The annual Holiday Reception is set for Dec. 15th at The Algonquin Club. This event has been held here numerous times and the prestige of the location adds to the holiday setting. Update on CRE Chapter Membership Renewal During the first quarter of 2011, three CREs have submitted resignation due to retirement and seven CREs were contacted about renewal. All seven CREs that had not submitted national dues are in the process of renewing their accreditation thereby reaching a 100% renew rate. New Membership Development follow up calls for 2011 made in February National had 10 potential CRE members and I was asked to speak with each of them about membership. All of the candidates indicated strong interest to become an CRE and two have recently submitted for membership. Another 2-4 members have indicated that they plan to submit applications during the year. The chapter board plans to encourage further recruitment of membership.