SAN DIEGO—Women have made a lot of progress in the male-dominated CRE industry, but there is still more work to be done, which is why CREW exists, the San Diego chapter's 2017 president Catharine Hughes tells GlobeSt.com. Hughes, who was recently promoted to director at Ware Malcomb, sat down with us for a chat about the main issues CREW San Diego will be focusing on this year, as well as how CRE women are faring in C-suite positions.

GlobeSt.com: What are the main issues CREW San Diego will be focusing on this year?

Hughes: What I decided to do was to kind of go back to basics. We focus on what CREW is all about: why are we members of CREW and why is this so important to members? In doing that, we want to focus on who our membership is and the quality of that membership. What's so great about CREW is that a lot of CRE professionals—men and women—who are those active decision makers are a quality group of people, and what I like about our current size is we're able to get to know each other really well. There are some organizations that grow to be too large, so there's no opportunity to really know each other. Also, some organizations allow lots of vendor members, and I love those members, but I really want to focus on the decision makers and what our current members need. Growing is great for many reasons, but need to focus on providing those benefits to members. That connection to other members is important, but so are our educational programs and everything else that CREW offers. Every time we make a decision, it has to be membership focused.

We're also focusing on the CREW Network Foundation, a national organization that helps provide for and bring up women in the CRE industry. They provide scholarships and lots of great benefits toward helping support women in CRE. We're making sure we have those value points whenever we make a decision.

GlobeSt.com: How do these compare with the perennial issues that come up for women in commercial real estate?

Hughes: CREW has provided a great white paper that has to do with gender biases, and they go both ways. That is a huge issue and something that we need to be aware of, and it's a perennial issue So is how to deal with pay scales and being more assertive. A lot of women don't realize that we do a great job, and we should be advancing and striving for that C-suite, and that's one of the great reminders that CREW provides. Some of the other issues have to do with the fact that—and these have to deal with men, too—in the workplace, when you're a full-time parent, you need work/life balance. I tend to focus on details, and one of the things that's nice when you go to a program event is when you are listening to a woman who is very successful in CRE talking about how she did it. It's nice to step back and focus on the big picture.

GlobeSt.com: How do you believe women are progressing in C-suite positions in the still-male-dominated industry of CRE?

Hughes: I've been doing this for 30 years, and I've seen a lot of progress. We're working our way into the C-suite, but we're going to get there because we have so many more women working for general contracting firms. Thirty years ago, we had one or two women in the project-manager role. Now, we have many more women. Some companies are actually owned by women. It's happening, I can see it happening. it'll be nice when it's not even an issue. There is going to be a day when CREW is just going to be a networking organization and we leave the aspect of women behind, but we're not there yet.

GlobeSt.com: Are there issues that are unique to San Diego's commercial real estate women?

Hughes: San Diego is unique in that we are a big town, but I still feel like it's a small town when it comes to CRE. It's still got that feeling. When it comes to CRE, San Diego is still pretty conservative, but we have made great strides. I'm a commercial interior designer, and there was a day when if someone wanted interior design, they hired someone from the L.A. area, and they don't need to do that any more. There are great interior and architectural firms in San Diego, and now customers are realizing we have always had these. We're dealing with a small-town mentality that is unique to San Diego. We are growing in that we realize to attract the best talent, part of that is a great work environment. That's what's been changing—we're providing more and more great work environments, more amenities, exterior patio areas and a third workspace where people are able to work in a collaborative, open or patio area with other people. We're open to the outside and have options in our work environments.

GlobeSt.com: What are the main issues CREW San Diego will be focusing on this year?

GlobeSt.com: How do these compare with the perennial issues that come up for women in commercial real estate?

GlobeSt.com: How do you believe women are progressing in C-suite positions in the still-male-dominated industry of CRE?

GlobeSt.com: Are there issues that are unique to San Diego's commercial real estate women?

Instant Insights /

One Day, CREW Will Just Be for Networking

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