This CREW Pulls Together to Boost Women’s Presence in Industry
Every month the Regency Club in Westwood plays host to a wheeling and dealing group from the commercial real estate industry. It’s not the usual cadre of well-barbered men in dark suits, but a meeting of almost 130 female brokers, attorneys and others intent on forging their own powerful feminine network in this still mostly male field.
The group, known as Commercial Real Estate Women, or CREW, created this “good old girls’ ” network 13 years ago to swap information, trade contacts and lobby to get one another hired on real estate deals when they weren’t getting the help they needed from most of their male colleagues.
Furthermore, “there was very little mentorship from women in front of us,” said Susan Goodman, a broker with Metrospace/Cresa in Brentwood who started leasing office space in the late 1970s. “We were some of the first women coming in. We needed a network like CREW to make [the contacts] happen.”
Back then, Goodman says, discrimination against women in the industry was widespread. Many male executives shopping for space refused to work with her. Those who took a chance insisted on asking her a barrage of textbook real estate questions--questions that weren’t asked of her male colleagues with similar experience.
Much of that overt discrimination is gone and more women are making inroads to real estate’s top executive positions. But for the most part, commercial real estate is still a man’s game commonly played out on golf courses, alumni parties and sporting events. So, female solidarity is still crucial for many in the industry.
“We do a lot of networking. If you look at the amount of transactions done [with other members], it’s very significant,” said Susan Casamassima, owner of Los Angeles-based SSC Investments. For instance, a female broker might refer legal work on a warehouse sale to a member attorney, or recommend an asset manager to one of her clients.
The women’s network isn’t confined to Los Angeles. CREW LA is affiliated with National Network of Commercial Real Estate Women, or NNCREW, which includes 39 other member organizations nationwide, among them groups in Orange County and San Diego. Members can assemble teams to work on deals around the country, deals they probably wouldn’t do otherwise. In a recent poll of NNCREW members, 23% said they had received calls from members outside their area trying to do business together.
Best of all, CREW’s members don’t have to swagger like John Wayne to make these deals happen.
“I’m not going to start smoking cigars and take up golfing” to make industry connections, said Deborah Schmidt, a real estate attorney with Appel & Associates in Century City. “I have a whole bunch of different contacts at the same companies as the other male attorneys in my firm.”
Although she says some of her male associates think of the organization as “that women’s group,” most are glad that she isn’t competing for the same contacts. And, Goodman says, a few of her male colleagues have asked if they can drop the CREW name when they are trying to put together deals with women at other firms.
A few male attorneys have even joined the organization over the years, including Michael Meyer, head of the real estate department of Pillsbury, Madison & Sutro in downtown Los Angeles. Meyer says he likes CREW’s educational and speaker programs, which focus on market conditions, legal issues and current developments.
But for many male real estate players, CREW has yet to hit the radar screen. “Never heard of it,” is a common reaction. That means the organization still has a long way to go in gaining clout and raising its profile, even among some high-powered female brokers.
“We have had a hard time getting our message out,” Casamassima acknowledged. “People have a limited amount of time. They have to perceive this organization as a place where they are going to do a lot of business.”
Doug Hinchliffe, president of the National Assn. of Industrial and Office Properties and a principal at Lowe Enterprises Inc., agrees. “Most people join the organization that is going to give them the most bang for their buck.”
Some male members like Meyer even think that groups like CREW will soon be unnecessary, given what he sees as the current climate.
“The perception of women in commercial real estate has changed 100-fold in the last 15 years,” Meyer said. “People are just interested in having the best and most qualified person to represent them and work for them.”
But the challenge isn’t only about changing some men’s perceptions of women in the business, it’s also about changing young women’s minds about commercial real estate as a profession.
“There are very few women in my classes. I guess they just don’t perceive opportunities there,” said David Dale-Johnson, director of the real estate program at USC’s Marshall School of Business.
Still, plenty of opportunities are out there for women who adopt their own style, said one successful executive.
“If you are trying to play the game as it has been played for years and you have less experience at it you’re not going to play as well,” said Ann Banning-Wright, who was recently promoted to senior vice president at the Los Angeles office of engineering firm Syska & Hennessy Inc. “If you chart a different course, it’s wide open to whatever you want to do.”
