Lisa Krizek
NRTA President
A lot has happened since I first wrote to you as the newly-elected President of the NRTA. Since then, I have found religion! Business religion, that is. I’ve strengthened my faith in the power of the NRTA. I’ve witnessed the work by so many to make the corporate real estate industry into a highly valued business component for retailers and office tenants everywhere.
Our leadership, conference participants, presenters and sponsors alike have supported the NRTA with a sense of optimism and innovation that has effectively set the stage for the NRTA to make a difference within our field of business.
The NRTA is a road map for real estate lease management professionals that are challenged by economic assumptions, changed by landlord habits, and shaped by a landscape that’s continually in flux. With all of these trends swirling around us, I find optimism and innovation as the NRTA continues to introduce new ideas, tools, best practices, technologies or processes; that enable better outcomes, enhance efficiency or create value through change. As lease administration property managers evolve, the need for operational excellence and the necessity for persistent innovation across the corporate real estate industry increases proportionately. Our NRTA-trained managers are called upon to make a difference within their respective organizations.
Gone are the days when a lease administration property manager was merely the person paying the rent bill each month. This same person is now a specialized subject matter expert with the capacity to guide the business through the pitfalls of bad and costly lease language. This is awesomeness.
Proof of such innovative leaps by the NRTA is thick. We hosted nearly 500 professionals at our annual Expanding Knowledge conference and the number of new companies joining our ranks continues to grow. Graduates of the NRTA’s three-day, intense conference curriculum are fully locked and loaded with concepts, insights, solutions, and best practices. Cost optimization payoffs for retail and office member companies are long-termed as conference attendees transport their newfound innovations back to their respective businesses, and weave their way through a minefield of risks and costly lease management judgments. The results are serious occupancy cost savings and improved efficiency of lease management processes.
“My NRTA”…a must read
We started asking NRTA members to share their experiences in a column entitled “My NRTA.” Reading these testimonials all I can say is “WOW” (check out the most recent of these from Steve Bregoli, Lease Administration Manager for Talbots). Each is a testimonial for how education and peer networking play an indispensable role in shaping the lives of individuals and the business at large. Just look at how many amazing things happened with the encouragement of the NRTA that has led to innovation and opportunity. There is no other place you can find this same type of professional resource.
Last year I spoke about a group of folks who totally understood the power of the NRTA. We spoke of working to be certain that the NRTA remained relevant to our membership. With that in mind we continued to introduce new classes; continued to feature online webinar programs; deployed a revamped, user-friendly mobile website based on feedback we received from you, our members; added a curriculum coach to strengthen our courses; introduced a mentor/mentee program; and launched an on-site outreach education concept for NRTA company members wanting to host an NRTA training experience within their own corporate setting. This is NRTA at work for you…take full advantage of it.
I believe in the power of the NRTA, and again I encourage each of you to spread the news, share the wealth and stay involved. The key element to the NRTA’s continued success this year, and in the years to come, still remains the power of each and every member taking the initiative to speak up and actually make a difference by encouraging others to explore the NRTA.