The Real Estate Finance Association kicks off its 5^th Mentor Program

Boston, MA REFA continued its programming on February 24^th with a Fundamentals of Real Estate Tax 101 moderated by REFA Programs Committee Tri-Chair Mandy Eckhoff, partner, Robinson + Cole. John Ryder, vice president & managing consultant, Marvin F. Poer & Company, and Daniel Swift, principal consultant, Marvin F. Poer & Company, delivered a presentation on the basics of the legal framework of property taxation and provided an overview of the valuation process as well as the process of setting a tax rate. Members who attended learned assessment & tax rate structure, abatement & appeal procedures, and planning & strategy.

REFA kicked off its 5^th Mentor Program on February 25^th under the leadership of mentor co-chairs John Roach, US Bank and Kevin Stone, KeyBank Real Estate Capital. The Mentor Program pairs REFA Emerging Leader Members with senior-level REFA Members for a yearlong partnership. This year’s program features a record-breaking 42 mentor/mentee pairs - 84 participants in total. REFA has introduced a new structural element to the program this year. The mentor/mentee pairs have been organized into sub-groups of 5-6 pairs. These smaller groups are encouraged to meet with each other 2-3 times a year in addition to the pairs meeting on their own. This new feature provides participants the opportunity to connect and network with other mentors and mentees in the program.

REFA will continue its DEI Discussion Series on April 28^th with a conversation about The Color of Law: A forgotten History of how our Government Segregated America, by Richard Rothstein. REFA Members are welcome to join the REFA DEI Committee as they explore diversity, equity, and inclusion through different channels of multimedia. Each session is a guided discussion based on a movie, book, article, news-clip, etc. that brings diversity to the forefront and sparks a conversation.

Please save the date, April 29^th, for the follow-up program to REFA’s first Webinar in March 2020: The Impact of COVID-19 on CRE – One Year Later. Paul Ayoub, Nutter, Leslie Cohen, Samuels & Associates, Jonathan Davis, The Davis Companies, Robert Palter, McKinsey & Company, Navjot Singh, McKinsey & Company, and John Wolfe, Bank of America will make up the panel of distinguished industry leaders who will reflect on the impact the past year has made on the CRE industry.

To learn more about REFA membership and programs, please visit www.REFA.org and follow REFA on Twitter @REFABoston.