A brief history of the CREW Network.

The CREW Network (formally known as NNCREW) officially started operations on January 1, 1989. During the 1980s, several independent organizations were formed in various cities in which women involved in the many aspects of commercial real estate joined together to exchange information, develop business contacts, and to help each other succeed professionally. The unique element of these groups was not that they were oriented toward women in a predominantly-male industry (men were also welcomed as members), but that the groups brought together representatives from a wide variety of professions, all of whom were involved in some way with commercial real estate. Groups typically included a variety of disciplines -- from law to architecture to brokerage to property management -- everyone needed to "do the deal." Heretofore, profession-specific organizations for the various disciplines such as appraisers, lawyers, brokers and accountants existed, but an umbrella organization that brought all of these disciplines to gether did not.

In 1986, a federation of these groups was being formed on the east coast. The original members of CREW-National (Commercial Real Estate Women-National) were Baltimore, Northern Virginia, Suburban Maryland, Philadelphia, Detroit and Washington DC. During the formation of CREW-National, they learned of a similar federation being formed on the west coast called WICRE-National Network (Women In Commercial Real Estate-National Network) with member groups in Los Angeles, Orange County, Phoenix, San Diego, and San Francisco. Leadership from the two federations met and realized that they were driving toward the same end and were at about the same place in the process. Rather than interrupt the momentum and energy within the two federations, they agreed to complete their separate formations with an eye toward eventually linking together.

In 1987, CREW-National had its first convention in Washington, DC and members of WICRE-NN attended, as did several "unaffiliated" groups from around the country who had learned of the federations. The unaffiliated groups urged the two federations to form one national group so that they could join one federation. With such high interest being shown, a six-member steering committee led by Linda Hollemon from CREW-National and Anne Hanyak from WICRE-NN spent the next year creating the national federation.

In 1988, at the WICRE-NN convention in Los Angeles, the board of directors from the east and west coast federations signed the bylaws of NNCREW - the National Network of Commercial Real Estate Women. NNCREW started with 11 Chapters and 1,100 members. By the end of its first year, NNCREW had added Dallas, St. Louis, New Jersey, Denver and Northwest (Seattle), with Sacramento joining at the start of 1990.

In 1989, the first NNCREW national convention was held in Baltimore (which was scheduled for the 1987 CREW-NN convention, but delayed in deference to the west coast federation's convention). The theme of the convention was "Building

Success in the 1990s" and 200 attended.

The 1990 convention was held in Phoenix and its theme was "The Global Marketplace-A Preview of the 21st Century". In 1991, NNCREW membership reached the 2,000 mark. The convention was in Dallas and explored the theme "The Challenge of Change". The following year, NNCREW held its convention in Chicago with the theme "Revolution to Renaissance", and attendance surpassed 300 for the first time. In 1993, San Francisco co-hosted the convention with the theme "Building Opportunities."

In 1994, the convention was in Miami with the theme "Navigating the 90s." In 1995, Seattle was the co-host and the theme was "The Power of Partnership". Philadelphia co-hosted the 1996 convention with the theme "Reinventing Real Estate: Inner City to International", and attendance crossed the 400 mark. It was also in 1996 that NNCREW membership surpassed 3,000. The 1997 convention was in Atlanta with the theme "Dare to Dream: Building Tomorrow Today," and set a new attendance record of 550.

1998 saw the celebration of CREW's tenth year with the convention in San Diego with the theme "Eye on the Future." At the time of this celebration, NNCREW had 39 Chapters with more than 4,300 members. 1999 was another year of net membership growth to more than 4,500 within 41 Chapters and saw another successful national convention in Washington, DC featuring "Spheres of Influence."

The entry into the new millenium came with plans for a strategic orientation of the organization toward the principle of "Full Service Networking" and with plans for the convention in Los Angeles with the theme "Premiering the 21st Century: Spotlight on Real Estate." The number of chapters was increased to 42 with the addition of Indianapolis CREW.

In 2001, the convention was held in Boston, Massachusetts, and the theme was "Revolutionary Thinking in Commercial Real Estate". This year also saw the name changed to CREW Network. The 43rd Chapter (NYCREW Network) joined CREW Network.

The year 2002 saw the addition of three new chapters (New Orleans, Jacksonville and Louisville) and our convention was in Chicago, where the theme was "Building Bridges for Business - Spanning the World of Commercial Real Estate."

Information for this article was pro vided by Commercial Real Estate Women (CREW).