Real Estate Finance Association is ready for a busy Q1

The Real Estate Finance Association (REFA) is pleased to be supporting Breaktime and FamilyAid Boston as our Charitable Partners for another two years! Breaktime and FamilyAid are the designated charities of REFA’s signature events, including the charitable golf & tennis tournament, gala, programs, and community service activities.

We hope you can join us for a membership-wide community service fundraising activity to Benefit our charities – The Winter Walk – on Sunday, February 11^th (Super Bowl Sunday), 9:00 - 11:00 AM at the Boston Common.

The 8^th Annual Winter Walk is an initiative that believes ending homelessness is within our reach. Their mission is to raise awareness and funds towards that goal and to support organizations working on prevention, support, and care for our homeless community. You can join REFA at the Winter Walk by going to www.refa.org under the events tab.

REFA’s 8^th Annual Mentorship Program begins on February 28^th with a kick-off event under the leadership of program co-chairs Kristen Binck, Oxford Properties, Ian McKinley, GFI Partners, and Vin Norton, Urban Meritage. The REFA Mentor Program gives Emerging Leader Members the opportunity to be paired with a senior-level member for a yearlong membership. REFA organizes 3-4 events throughout the calendar year to bring all participants together. Mentor/mentee pairs are encouraged to connect regularly throughout the program to share ideas, career advice, and act as sounding boards to help with career and professional development. This year’s Mentor Program features ~50 mentor/mentee pairs.

On Wednesday, January 24^th, REFA held its Annual Forecasting Luncheon with over 120 members and guests in attendance at WilmerHale, 60 State St. Jeffrey Smith, national real estate leader, with Alex Braser, partner, New England real estate leader, from Deloitte were the luncheon’s keynote and provided an economic outlook. Tod McGrath, vice president, Boston Properties moderated the panel discussion with industry leaders Oliver Carr, CEO, Carr Properties; Jay Hart, managing partner, CrossHarbor Capital Partners; Colleen Foy, executive vice president, M&T Bank; and Claudia Piper, senior vice president, Webster Bank. All shared their thoughts on the current environment. The sold-out luncheon provided insight into what is to come in 2023.

REFA’s Real Estate’s Evolving Landscape: Insights from Boston’s leading Real Estate Portfolio Managers, was held on Tuesday, February 6^th at Brown Rudnick, One Financial Center in Boston. The sold-out event with 80+ attendees was moderated by Jennifer Keller, senior vice president, GID with speakers Cappy Daume, chief portfolio management officer, Davis; Maureen Joyce, managing director, Barings; Thomas Taranto, chief investment officer & director, Intercontinental Real Estate Corp.;  and Sean Ruhmann, partner, TA Realty. They discussed the ins and outs of asset and portfolio management in the current environment and how they are problem solving and driving returns.