There are big shoes to fill as incoming president of NHCIBOR. 

I want to start by saying thank you to Ralph Valentine for your tremendous service over the last year, and thank you to our members for entrusting me with this position. I look forward to working with our members, board, and various committees to continue the growth and success of NHCIBOR. It is humbling to see the number of people that have stepped up to contribute. Your time and effort on our organization’s behalf is greatly appreciated.

I also want to thank our outgoing state president, Gerry O’Connell, and outgoing national treasurer, Tom Riley.  It is great to see commercial brokers and NHCIBOR members involved at every level working to improve our platform.   

I would also like to recognize and applaud the efforts of our NHCIBOR Cares board as well.  As you may know, NHCIBOR has a nonprofit entity with a mission to help assist various organizations and individuals in need throughout the year. The board has had a number of folks step up and help since its creation.  We recently celebrated NHCIBOR Cares’ 10-year anniversary and are proud to announce that the organization has distributed over $50,000 to those in need during that time! None of that would be possible without the generous donations from our membership and various program sponsors.  A special thank you to our affiliate committee for organizing our new summer mixer which helped raise a significant amount of funds for NHCIBOR Cares this year.    

As we get ready to start the New Year, we have a number of action items to work on throughout 2019. Our main focal points will be continuing to improve our educational offerings as we work towards implementing a curriculum of classes that will set up an official commercial designation within NHCIBOR. We are also working closely with the folks at Catalyst to enhance NECPE’s visibility online by improving SEO/SEM.  Committees have already been formed and are busy working on both initiatives.   

No doubt, we have another busy year ahead. Coupled with a busy market and an ever-changing public policy landscape, we will continue to work together to ensure no one shoulders too much of the load.  

Please reach out if you would like to get involved with one of our many committees or if you have any thoughts on improving our member services.  Board meetings are open to our membership and all input is welcome.  My email address is [email protected]  if you would like to connect directly.  

I look forward to working with you all towards a successful 2019 for NHCIBOR.  

Douglas Martin is the 2018 president of NHCIBOR, Bedford, N.H.