A national CREW organization had been launched in 1989 and the women decided to start an Iowa chapter, Schumann said. In the chapter’s first year, CREW Iowa had 30 members. A decade later, it has 166 members representing nearly 30 companies located in the Greater Des Moines area.

“The idea that this 76th chapter of CREW Network would grow to over 150 members in our short decade is mind-blowing to me,” wrote Pfeil in CREW Iowa’s 10th anniversary report. “CREW Iowa has exceeded my … vision in size, quality of programming and truly valuable content.”

We recently chatted with Schumann about CREW Iowa, its growth, its importance to women in commercial real estate and what’s planned for the future.

How has CREW Iowa benefited women in commercial real estate?

We try to hit on a lot of different areas. One is our education and outreach to younger women. We put on several different programs throughout the year where we reach out to high school students. We also have an event for college students – men and women – who can come and learn about commercial real estate. That event is on Sept. 8. … We will have about 20 different professionals talk about different careers in commercial real estate. We take tours of different properties, both new construction and fully constructed properties … to kind of give them a taste of what that looks like and explain what some of the construction processes are. We also give them an opportunity to network with the different commercial real estate professionals.

We also have a monthly lunch in which we hit either a commercial real estate topic or leadership topic. We also have a happy hour or breakfast every month. Those events provide members with a lot of networking opportunities.

We have quarterly lunches where we pair four or five different members together, give them a lunch spot to go to … and then they have an opportunity to network and get to know each other better. We also have a book club to read books on commercial real estate or other issues facing women.

Last month we started affinity groups [that bring together people with similar backgrounds]. For example, we’ve got development, law, brokerage, property management, and we have a leader for each one. It’s more networking in casual settings. It’s been overwhelming how many people want to take part. We definitely see that there’s a need that people want to meet each other in more narrow areas of the commercial real estate industry.

Why is it important for women in commercial real estate to have this type of networking ability?

What we’ve found is that women are looking for a place in which they can feel supported. CREW has been that for them. When you find that there’s other women who are facing the same issues that you are, that’s refreshing. … We provide a support system, both professional and personally.

I think that we give a lot of women the confidence to take that next step in their careers. We have speakers talk about how to ask for that next promotion or next raise or ask for a seat at the table, or how to advance your career. Those are areas that historically are hard for some women. We provide that support and those resources to them in lots of different ways.

Talk about the future and what CREW Iowa may be doing that’s new in the next two to three years.

We are looking to add a man to our board for the first time. The nominating committee has selected the slate and now membership will be voting on that slate. Assuming it all gets approved, we’ll have our first male board member in 2023, which is really exciting for us. We’re also working on a [diversity, equity and inclusion] initiative and how we can be more inclusive. CREW in itself is a DEI initiative but how else can we be more inclusive to others in the real estate industry. We’re also striving to makes sure we have at least one member from every commercial real estate company in the Des Moines area.