BOMA/Chicago’s 110th Annual Membership Meeting Remembered

The 2012 Annual Meeting was held in the Burnham Ballroom at the JW Marriott Chicago.

Around a month ago, the Elevator Speech offered some insight into an event that probably takes place at companies, organizations and business groups everywhere during these waning weeks of the calendar year: The annual meeting.

Well, our last “big night out” of the year took place a week ago today at the JW Marriott Chicago Hotel. Overall, the BOMA/Chicago 2012 Annual Meeting, the 110th such gathering in our long history, was a tremendously successful event on many fronts.

For those who were not able to attend, here’s a quick recap on key happenings:

• Chicago Alderman Brendan Reilly, who’s 42nd Ward encompasses the majority of Chicago’s Central Business District, delivered a compelling “State of the 42nd Ward” presentation.  The key takeaway: The Ward continues to grow, evolve and drive much of Chicago’s economy.
• New officers were elected to guide the organization for the next two years: George Kohl of CBRE, Inc. as president; T.J. Brookover of Buck Management Group, LLC as vice president; and Robert Quast of Lincoln Property Company as treasurer.
  

  BOMA/Chicago’s outgoing president, Bob Six, COO of Zeller Realty, delivered a speech at the 2012 annual meeting.

• Three industry professionals were elected as new members of the Board of Directors: Matthew Amato, Jones Lang LaSalle; Robert J. Herber, Reit Management and Research, LLC; and Rebecca Steffes, Piedmont Office Realty Trust.
• A former president and long-time Board member, Thomas M. Kennedy, was elected as Life Member for his 21 years of service to BOMA/Chicago. He joins seven other BOMA/Chicago leaders to earn this prestigious honor.
• BOMA/Chicago’s 2012 President Bob Six, gave a heart-felt speech, reflecting on his many years serving as President and leader of the organization.  He made special note of the support he received from his family, who were in attendance.
• And, to top off the evening, we played a short video featuring a montage of feature films shot in Chicago that included glimpses of BOMA/Chicago member buildings.

And, of course, members got the opportunity to interact, network, laugh and share thoughts and ideas about BOMA/Chicago. Hopefully the annual meeting provided the opportunity for members to launch some meaningful business relationships that will last well beyond the event.

Members enjoyed networking before and after the business section of our annual meeting last week.

But the Annual Meeting did one more thing: It gave us an opportunity to stand back and take notice of BOMA/Chicago’s role in Chicago and the commercial real estate industry locally, nationally and internationally. After all, BOMA/Chicago is the oldest BOMA organization in the world, and as Bob Six noted in his opening remarks, we even pre-date the World Series of baseball.

George Kohl offered this perspective at the conclusion of the evening:

“Sometimes, we lose sight of the truly great metropolis we work and live in.  And that’s understandable because we all have jobs … and families … and lives outside of business.  But think about this for a second: What defines Chicago – from a visual perspective – to the rest of the nation and the rest of the world?

It’s our world-class skyline when viewed from the lakefront … or viewed when flying into O’Hare and Midway Airports … or viewed when driving into downtown on the expressway.  And, as we know, that dramatic – seemingly ever-changing skyline – primarily is comprised of amazing, world-class office towers … office towers that make up the membership of BOMA/Chicago.”

What did you think of our 2012 annual meeting? Or, what are your thoughts on Chicago’s office building industry in the coming months and years?