NAIOP Arizona’s Developing Leaders mentoring program designed to pair veteran and young CRE professionals to bolster the industry

For a group that has yet to commemorate its first class, NAIOP Arizona’s Developing Leaders mentoring program has some fairly heady goals.

That’s evident by its mission statement:

* To Improve the communities in which we develop, build, and broker commercial real estate;

* To Impact the careers of young real estate professionals through educational development, and exposure to pertinent topics;

* To Instill the knowledge, values, and expertise of today’s industry leaders in developing leaders;

* To Influence the professional growth of developing leaders by fostering valuable long-term relationships with industry peers.

NAIOP Arizona’s Developing Leaders mentoring program is relatively new to the Arizona chapter, although it’s been around for awhile nationally — where it has been successful.

“It was a natural evolution,” Clay Wells, a co-liaison on the NAIOP Arizona board of directors and director of business development at McShane Construction Company, says about implementing a mentoring program. “The first year we were involved with getting our feet wet. The second year we tried to make it grow by working on charitable events.”
Now in its third year, it’s time to get the ball rolling.

“The program will bring the best elements of the entire membership together,” says NAIOP Arizona president and CEO Tim Lawless. “It will create synergy with older more experienced people and younger up-and-coming members.”

The goal is for those in the commercial real estate industry to help provide protégés with insight on how to become successful, says Nate Goldfarb, an associate at CBRE and co-chair of the mentoring program.

The program will be comprised of 10 highly experienced industry professionals as mentors, each paired with two protégés who are existing developing leaders under the age of 35.

Other chapters have had mentoring programs for several years, with those in San Diego and Colorado boasting some of the strongest programs, according to Wells.  “We looked at other chapters and tried to steal the best details,” he says.

Lawless will be involved in the final mentor screening process and says he will be looking for the best and brightest people who are experts in their niche and would bring the most to the table.

Protégés will be selected based on application information and not on personality, says Wells, who is part of the selection committee that is made up of five to six board members.
Initially an email survey was sent out to all developing leader candidates to probe interest and to determine which industries members would like mentors from, Goldfarb says.

“There was a strong response from potential protégés and response from prospective mentors was phenomenal, particularly senior members,” Goldfarb says.

“We’re looking for an Icon,” says Lawless, adding that NAIOP Arizona’s membership has an excellent crop of mentor candidates such as Keith Earnest from RED Development and NAIOP chairman Mike Haenel of Cassidy Turley BRE Commercial.

When protégé and mentor are paired they will meet at least once a month for 10 months.
“There will be a lot of active listening to the mentor who has already walked the path,” Goldfarb says.

The inaugural class function will be held this fall and will be a black tie event, according to Goldfarb.

“We want to make events special for protégés so that they are impressed by the mentor, the program and the events.”

[stextbox id=”grey”]For more information about the NAIOP Arizona’s Developing Leaders mentoring program, visit www.naiopaz.org/dl.[/stextbox]

AZRE Magazine September/October 2011