New Yorkers at CREW
We've been in Miami Beach this past week, making sure you had the most up-to-date news from CREW Network's national convention. NYC’s own Emigrant Bank commercial real estate head Pat Goldstein (right, with CBRE’s Cheryl Hardt of CREW NJ) was one of four CREW 2014 Distinguished Leaders honored. No women worked in finance when she started in the ‘70s; in fact, leadership told her that if she failed in the credit training program, it’d never let another woman in. Things have come a long way, but she’s still disappointed in the fact that almost no women run commercial banks. Her advice: Find out what you can do like no one else, and play to that strength. Pat’s daughter has followed her into real estate and was on hand for Mom’s presentation.
Congrats to Crowell & Moring’s Barbara Champoux and Akerman’s Beth Zafonte, who won CREW’s Impact Award for member-to-member business, having involved many of their CREW counterparts in the Gemological Institute of America’s $51M purchase of an 80k SF condo in Extell’s International Gem Tower. Barbara repped GIA through the entire process, starting in the late 2000s, and brought on CREW women for GIA’s architecture and title (three firms split the policy). Beth brought in a colleague to help with non-profit tax exemptions ($95k savings a year). The IGT opened this summer.
The Port Authority is spending $2.6B to dredge the harbor and raise the Bayonne Bridge to accommodate post-Panamax ships, says Vickerman & Associates prez John Vickerman (snapped with Dow Golub Remels & Beverly’s Debra Gilbreath and Rockefeller Group FTZ Services’ Brandi Hanback). Seems worth it considering he reports that 98% of everything you consume, wear, eat, drive, and construct is shipped through the North American port system. John, a retired Civil Engineer Corps naval captain, says containers typically sit in port yards for six to eight days, and the ports that distribute those throughout the US the fastest may be the real Panamax winners.
Food and beverage revenue exceeds room revenue in the Dream Downtown hotel at 355 W 16th St and Dream New York at 210 W 55th St, says Dream South Beach GM Peggy Benua (second from right, with James Royal Palm Hotel’s Michael Shaff, Bilzin Sumberg Baena Price & Axelrod’s Suzanne Amaducci-Adams, and Driving ROI managing director Debbie Castillo). PH-D Lounge at the top of Dream Downtown alone brings in $20M a year. (Hotels are the only place we make our own waffles... and that's usually free. Potential trillion dollar business, in our opinion.)
There’s no such thing as a born leader, says Forbes chairman Steve Forbes (with CREW prez Judy Nitsch). Even people with a natural knack for it still have to learn. You’ll never have all the information you need or be prepared for every crisis; you’ll often just have to rely on your gut, he says. Steve buys into Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos’ policy that a team is too big if it requires more than two pizzas because smaller teams are more likely to care about each other than to play games. Steve felt right at home at the convention, as he and his wife of 43 years have five daughters and even the dogs are female.
Another 2014 Distinguished Leader, Butler Burgher Group CEO Diane Butler (right, with BBC World News America lead anchor Katty Katy) sold her valuation company and then reacquired it from the bankrupt owner in ’09. She’s since grown it from 65 to over 200 employees and expanded to NYC via the acquisition of Leitner Group. Your career is a marathon, not a sprint, she says, so don’t worry about the occasional setback. Fun fact: She’s golfed with Sugar Ray Leonard.
New York was all over the CREW convention. The org’s president-elect, Hartman Simons partner Lori Kilberg (whom we snapped with husband, Plum Creek's James Kilberg), is working on BFC’s Empire Outlets going up on Staten Island along with the New York Wheel. Lori's also a Bisnow Atlanta Power Woman.
