CREW Boston

2024 CREW Network Convention

Over 30 CREW Boston members made the cross-continent trip to attend the 2024 CREW Network Convention in Vancouver September 25-27.  They joined over 1,400+ other CRE professionals from around the globe for the event, held in the world’s first double LEED® Platinum certified Vancouver Convention Centre located on the City’s stunning waterfront.

Following the traditional Wednesday evening Marketplace and Boston chapter dinner at Glowbal, the Convention opened Thursday morning with a truly inspiring keynote speaker Chantal Petitclerc.  Ms. Petitclerc is a Canadian wheelchair racer who won medals in multiple Olympics between 1992 and 2008.  Her speech was moving as she shared her story of perseverance and triumph from an injury at 13 to Olympic medals and a role in the Canadian government.
 
The lunch keynote included two leading real estate economists – Kevin Thorpe of Cushman & Wakefield to review the US market and Phil Stone of Bentall GreenOak to review the Canadian market.   They both shared future optimism around the impact of interest rate changes and it was interesting to note that the countries share similar housing dynamics.  We also attended informative breakout tracks on a wide range of timely topics, including a discussion of Construction Trends and a conversation about First Nation Developments .Our own Valerie Pontiff of HUD led a very informative breakout session focused on Multifamily Housing opportunity.
 
This year the CREW Network Foundation was able to award $275,000 in scholarships to 40 young female students/leaders of tomorrow, an increase of 10 more students over last year. These women were honored on stage at the Convention and we were able to cheer on Sarah Carpenter, a junior studying architecture at WIT and Faith Cerny, a graduate student pursuing a dual MSRED and MCP degree at MIT.  Both of these women are members of CREW Boston so please watch for them at events.  CREW Boston also has strong representation at the leadership level of CREW Network and Foundation.  Gayle Bourdeau will Chair the Network Foundation Board and Dianne Crocker has begun serving as a Champion Director.  With wistfulness, we recognized that Barbara Oddo’s term on the CREW Network Board will come to an end in December as she has served so fabulously in that role.
 
Extracurriculars included the Foundation Gala with the theme of Under the Sea at the Vancouver Aquarium in Stanley Park with attendees dressed in festive hues of blue.  Convention closed with a roundtable of three highly accomplished female real estate executives and, on a lighter note, the comedy of SNL alum Melissa Villasenor. As usual, there were a number of wonderful excursions to highlight interesting projects in the City throughout the three days.

Next year we are back to cowboy boots as Convention will be held October 8-10. 2025 at the Fairmont Austin Texas.  In the meantime, join us for Winter and Spring Summits in Jacksonville, Florida in February and Portland, Oregon in June, respectively.































Register Online

Event Registration is either not opened yet, already closed or not available for this event. Please contact laura@crewboston.org with any questions.

Confirmed Attending