December 2017

LOOKING AHEAD LARRY THOMAS, PCAM | CAI-NJ CHAPTER EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

I ’d like to wrap up 2017 focusing on a few items that occurred during the year, beginning with our CAI-NJ team. We have a great staff here at CAI-NJ that has been consistent for the last three years. Angela, Jackie and Laura remained on the CAI-NJ team and we replaced the part-time Administrative Assistant/Graphic Designer with a full time staff member. Brooke Stoppiello came on board in August as a full-time team member assuming the Administrative Assistant/Graphic Designer role. Regarding the team, Angela became a first-time grand- mother to Olivia who arrived in July of this year. Laura and her husband Rob are expecting their first child which will most likely be here before this issue of Community Trends ® is mailed. Jackie got married to her longtime partner Ben, changing her name from Olszewski to Oskierko. We also had an excellent expe- rience with this year’s intern Tara Vakili, she did a great job over the summer and helped us keep current with our social media, member- ship data mining and other marketing initiatives. Tara is attending NYU as a sopho- more and hopefully can return next summer. Another highlight was our membership growth, during 2017 we grew from 1,625 members on December 31, 2016 to 1,694 on October 31, 2017. This is a very

impressive number and I’m sure we will pass the 1,700 count by the end of the year. Laura and I met with Lysa Bergenfeld and Nick Haralambopoulos (chair and vice chair of the 2018 Membership Committee) and discussed the committee's plan for next year. We all agreed on focusing on two major campaigns — push the new CAI Homeowner Leader program change (sign up 3 to 15 board members and key community volunteers for an annual cost of $295) and focus on increasing the manag- er membership section of our chapter. These two major initiatives will be discussed by the entire committee and a marketing plan will be developed and rolled out by the committee.

I have to thank the entire Conference and Expo Committee for an outstanding effort with this year’s event. They were faced with an unexpected venue change and pulled off our biggest and best conference yet. Great job to the entire com- mittee along with Angela and the rest of the CAI-NJ team for another great conference.

I hope you enjoy the holidays with your families and friends and recharge your batteries for 2018. We at CAI‑NJ will be discussing all of our events and programs and focusing on providing an even bigger and better experience for all of our members. n

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