President's Message
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Jay Sholl
Senior Vice President
CBRE
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As your president, I am so proud of the community we have created within our dynamic Chapter. We have attracted a diverse membership base comprised of people from all over the world who are at various stages in their careers and play a wide range of interesting and important roles within some of the world’s most prominent companies. Together, we have forged a fellowship of professionals sharing common attitudes, interests, and goals. My pride is deepened by the fact that members share generously with each other, that we have created a culture that welcomes new members warmly, and that we offer something for everyone with our diverse array of special interest groups such as the Women of CoreNet and the Young Leaders.
Recently, we have seen the unthinkable devastation wrought upon communities within California, in the U.S., and around the globe by wildfires, hurricanes, earthquakes, as well as the tragedy in Las Vegas. I have been moved by the countless stories of caring people jumping in without hesitation to help. Those indelible images of brave women and men risking their own safety to rescue and support the most vulnerable illustrate the power of community and reinforce our human bonds. The affected communities have a long way to go to heal; however, ultimately they will indeed persevere.
As I processed these events, I immediately felt a strong sense of gratitude to be part of our exceptional CoreNet community. It has been built through the contributions of our amazing volunteers, who help build our community by getting involved. While I hope that events such as these never happen in our area, I can’t help but believe that we, as a Chapter, would rise to such a challenge. For many, the Chapter represents one of the most effective ways to extend their professional lives into the meaningful human bonds that result in a strong community. As Chapter leaders, we are as committed as ever to creating opportunities to further strengthen the bonds between us.
In addition to highlighting the value of strong communities, these destructive natural disasters also underscored the importance of leveraging communications tools to keep communities informed and engage. For example, it was fascinating to see the role that social media played in distributing critical information to citizens during these emergencies. Twitter played an essential role in executing the emergency preparedness plans of many government agencies and disaster relief organizations.
Naturally, hearing these stories further solidified my commitment to our goal of raising the bar on our chapter communications. Thanks to the hard work of our Communications Committee, we will launch our new chapter website soon and we are implementing a well-crafted social media strategy, which is already resulting in expanding our follower base, driving member engagement and increasing awareness of CoreNet Northern California on Twitter and LinkedIn.
Additionally, we are focused on increasing membership overall and have a special emphasis on growing our end-user base to ensure a healthy balance within our community going forward. I am thrilled to announce the recent appointment of our fantastic new Membership Committee co-chairs who are leading this new initiative, Pierce Neinken, global portfolio manager at Airbnb and Cyndi Innecken, global accounts executive at Haworth. We are so lucky to have them as part of the chapter leadership.
Finally, I would like to encourage all of you to strengthen your connections to our outstanding community. We invite you to join a committee, invite your friends and colleagues to an upcoming event or simply reach out to CoreNet members you do not know and introduce yourself. We are all so fortunate to be connected with each other, and I am so honored to be your leader as we work to strengthen the bonds of our community even further.
- Jay
