President’s Foreword - Expanding IAMC’s Value Through Professional Development
By J. Tate Godfrey, CEcD, President & CEO
For more than 22 years, IAMC has stood apart in the world of professional trade associations for its powerful combination of value-based networking, peer-level knowledge sharing and a uniquely low-pressure environment. These hallmarks have driven our growth and cemented our role as the trusted home for corporate real estate professionals.
That said, as the industry evolves and expectations shift, so too must our approach to member value. In today’s fast-paced, talent-driven world, ongoing professional development is more than a benefit – it’s a business imperative.
That’s why, through our most recent Strategic Planning Process, IAMC identified an exciting new opportunity to strengthen our value proposition to members: to build a formal, flexible learning program designed to meet the needs of our members throughout every stage of their careers. The result is the IAMC Expertise Accelerator™ , a new initiative that will enhance the way we deliver education and professional growth across the IAMC community.
The Expertise Accelerator will feature customized Skills Paths aligned with core corporate real estate practice areas and across early-, mid- and late-career stages. The program will use a badging system to recognize member achievements and reinforce IAMC’s role as a career-long partner in professional advancement.
We’re particularly proud that IAMC has seen strong growth and engagement from the next generation of industrial real estate leaders. The Expertise Accelerator is designed to deepen that engagement, while also positioning IAMC as the go-to association for developing top-tier talent across industrial real estate.
To lead this important work, we’ve made key investments in our team, detailed later in this issue of Dispatch. In short, Charlene Manuel has been named Director of Education & Research and will guide the design, construction and launch of the Expertise Accelerator program. Andrea “Andi” Rawl joins us as Director of Professional Development and will ensure that our educational offerings are seamlessly integrated into Forum and Local programming.
I couldn’t be more excited to have these two professionals join our team. I hope you will reach out to them, welcome them and support them the way IAMC has always supported its professional staff.
Tate.