Jennifer Mazawey, a partner with Genova Burns, spoke to a crowd at the Basking Ridge Country Club as she was inducted as the 2018 board president for Commercial Real Estate Women of New Jersey — All photos by Hal Brown/Courtesy: CREW NJ
By Joshua Burd
A new slate of leaders have taken the reins at Commercial Real Estate Women of New Jersey, the state’s top association for connecting and advancing professional women across the industry.
The organization on Monday inducted its new board president, Jennifer Mazawey of Genova Burns, along with 13 other officers who will spearhead its efforts in 2018. They will lead a network of professionals whose focus includes everything from education and networking to philanthropy and public relations.
“I stand before you humbled by the support of the organization and my firm and all of the support they’ve extended to me,” said Mazawey, a Newark-based attorney who focuses on commercial real estate, land use and construction law. “I’m excited for the year ahead and I’m also quite conscious of the work that has to be done.”
Mazawey, who succeeds Diane Menard as CREW NJ president, said that work includes bolstering the level of support for what the organization already offers. Those benefits include connecting professionals who will undoubtedly come together through other groups such as NAIOP New Jersey and the Industrial and Office Real Estate Brokers Association.
SLIDESHOW: CREW New Jersey’s 2018 board induction luncheon
All photos by Hal Brown/Courtesy: CREW NJ
“It is so rewarding to walk into any organization … and know that you have an ally, a friend, somebody who is going to be a friendly face to you,” she said during a luncheon at the Basking Ridge Country Club. “You never need to feel like you’re alone. And we’re all networking, we’re all doing it and it’s not easy. Yet you can always rest assured that you’re going to have somebody because of CREW New Jersey.”
The other directors on CREW New Jersey’s 2018 board include:
- Tara Phelan Carver of Giordano Halleran & Ciesla P.C.
- Ivette Alvarado of Gibbons P.C
- Erica Godun of Ware Malcomb
- Cecilia Lassiter of Sills Cummis & Gross P.C.
- Elisa Buckley of Langan Engineering & Environmental Services
- Colleen Logan of Sobel & Co.
- Nancy Erickson of Colliers International
- Dawn Johnson of Johnson Controls
- Carolyn Vineis of North Star Signs
- Jill Carvalheira of Wilkin & Guttenplan P.C.
- Susan Karp of Sills Cummis & Gross P.C.
- Rebecca Machinga of WithumSmith+Brown, PC
- Diane Menard of Prestige Title Agency Inc.
Menard, a vice president with Prestige Title, said she was “confident in the direction we’re headed and our expanding goals in the future” as she turns over the board presidency to Mazawey. She also said that, after spending a year at the helm, she was “more convinced than ever of the need” for an organization such as CREW “because women still represent a minority of higher decision makers everywhere.”
But she said that can change, as evidenced by the members who have participated and taken advantage of the benefits offered by the networking group.
“By virtue of this type of professional growth in our members, CREW has become a launching pad that has ripple effects throughout the industry,” Menard said. “I’ve seen it time and again when I look at the highest leaders that are female in this industry.
“They began through here and some still remain.”
