LETTER FROM THE BOARD CHAIR

Dear Fellow Board Members,

As Board Chair of the Harvard Alumni Real Estate Board, I would like to thank each member of the board for your incredible professional engagement and service. The heart of this organization is its members. Through our collective efforts, we have created a vibrant community that is a resource not just for alumni but for the University's student cohort pursuing careers in real estate.

I am deeply grateful to Evan Linkner, the outgoing Board Chair (2017-2019), and Kris Miller, the inaugural chair (2016-2017), for their strong, thoughtful leadership. During their tenures, the board's mission was infused with meaning, evident through the significant milestones the board reached vis-à-vis student and alumni engagement. I would also like to give a special thanks to the board's Executive Committee members for their guidance over the first months of my chairmanship: Stuart Jones (AB '77), Vice-Chair; Donald Sheets (MBA '06), Programming Chair; Matt Ciccotti (MDes Real Estate '15), Treasurer; and Julie Perlman (MDes Real Estate '13), HSREC Chair. In addition, I would like to celebrate the steadfast commitment and generosity of Reggie Graham (MArch '78). Reggie, a longtime supporter of real estate at Harvard, has been the lead sponsor for the Fall 2018 and Spring 2019 board meetings and will also sponsor the upcoming Fall 2019 board meeting.

The board's achievements over the past four years provide an impetus for reflection and an opportunity to look ahead. The central commitment of my chairmanship is to increase the board's impact by building on the strong foundation created during the board's first four years of operation. The creation of a board endowment will allow us to increase financial support for alumni and student programs, cementing the future of the organization and ensuring the board's legacy.

In addition to increasing funding, the Executive Committee remains committed to preserving the strong culture the board has created. Before embarking on the next phase of the board's growth, we will engage the board to identify our most exciting opportunities, our greatest challenges, and the best ways to choose the road ahead. We will send you a survey later in this calendar year. Once we have reviewed your feedback, a strategic plan will be presented at the Spring 2020 board meeting in an effort to build consensus before creating any changes to the structure of the board. More information on the survey will be available shortly. In the meantime, if you have any thoughts, please feel free to reach out to me.

Let me close by thanking each of you for your hard work and loyalty to strengthen the board. There is much work and many exciting opportunities ahead of us, and I know we are up to the challenge.

Sincerely,

Mike

Mike Friedman, MDes Real Estate '92
Chair, Harvard Alumni Real Estate Board
(214) 668-5816
mike.friedman@cbre.com