President's Message
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Michael Bangs
Vice President, Real Estate and Facilities
Oracle
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Our new CoreNet year, which begins on April 1, will be built on many remarkable successes of the prior year, some of which I have highlighted for you in these messages. The Chapter is poised to approve a record annual budget in excess of $800K with membership poised to top 800. Planning is underway for our signature events: the Annual Golf Tournament, the Day on the Bay, and the Corporate Real Estate Awards Gala. The Chapter will debut a dynamic “new look” website and is planning to release at least four podcasts in the upcoming year. Our committee chairs are all in place with fresh ideas and renewed enthusiasm, and the Programs Committee has kicked off our new year with the “Technologies Changing Corporate Real Estate” series.
The feedback we have received from you about our 2016/2017 fiscal year has been overwhelmingly fantastic. We have heard from our members that programs have been on-point and relevant, networking events have been fun and well-attended, and our members feel they are receiving benefits from their investment of time and money. The credit for Chapter’s success goes to all of you who volunteered to make things happen, attended an event, completed a post-program survey, or wrote a sponsorship check. Each action helps build a stronger brand and enhances the corporate real estate profession.
I have officially passed the gavel (yes, there is one), and the Chapter leadership will transition on April 1st. Jay Sholl, senior vice president of Advisory and Transaction Services for CBRE, is the incoming Chapter president, to be supported and assisted by newly elected Chapter executive vice president, John Lucas of Juniper Networks. Jay and John have a tremendous breadth of industry and Chapter experience and will be a very complementary team. Rounding out the Board of Directors for the coming year will be David Houseman and Janet Merriman as directors-at-large, Andrea Tobias as secretary, Michelle Lagos as administrative director, Cassidy Zerrer as treasurer, and myself.
The chapter owes a huge thank you to our members who will no longer be part of the leadership team including Past-President Sandy Heistand, Secretary Jamie Moore, and committee chairs Shaun Scrivens, Don Davis, Tom Willow, Joan Price and Amber Schiada. They have all served with distinction, dedication, and passion.
Sponsors continue to be the life-blood of the chapter. Their generous contributions help fund many of the programs the Chapter is able to offer; please pass on your appreciation to our sponsors at all levels when you see them.
As I reflected on what I wanted to include in my final President’s Message, I kept coming back to “thank you.” Thanks to all of you for making this year a success. I’ve had a wonderful year, personally, as president of the Chapter. I’ve been humbled to see the amount of time, hard work and dedication our volunteers put in to keep our organization strong and our programs interesting and relevant -- all on top of their day jobs. Special thanks to Ken Miles, Tess Lombardo and Christina Pacini of HPA. They always pick up the phone, and there is not a question they can’t answer. Last but not least, thanks to my “editors,” Coleen Hurley and Ted Klaassen, for making my written words sound coherent.
Finally, I’ve had fun writing these messages over this last year. I hope they have conveyed the respect I have for this office but also a whimsical perspective. In keeping with the “college voyage” theme of previous messages, I now “graduate” and transition into the role of past-president, but I don’t get to play golf or travel the world, so I’ll see you at the next Chapter event!
- Mike
