By Jaime Clark
For more than three decades, Mary Salas, director of wealth management & planning at Wealthspring Financial Partners, has been a driving force within CREW Denver. Her journey, marked by unwavering dedication and a passion for empowering women in commercial real estate, is a testament to the organization’s transformative power. Join us as we delve into Mary’s inspiring story.
Can you share the backstory of your joining CREW Denver?
I joined CREW Denver in 1991 when I moved here from Minneapolis as the director of real estate for a retail mall owner/operator. I was active in a group that I co-founded in the Twin Cities with two other commercial real estate women who had met at a NAIOP meeting and felt sidelined and excluded from the “old boys network.” The three of us decided to grow our networking opportunities by each inviting another woman in real estate (we called ourselves WIRE – Women in Real Estate) to meet monthly over lunch and discuss various local commercial real estate projects and make introductions to the various local players. The three turned into six, then twelve, at which point we decided the group was getting too large for a good lunch conversation. So, as newcomers inquired, we suggested the formation of WIRE 2, followed quickly by WIRE 3. Then, there were 36 of us loosely affiliated with good, but not great, networking opportunities. Naturally, the next step was to connect the 3 WIRE groups into one quarterly meeting gathering with a speaker and agendas!
There was a local Denver group of women that similarly started meeting in 1984 at Rick’s Café southeast of Cherry Creek, they already joined NNCREW (the National Network of Commercial Real Estate Women), which was born in 1988 as a merger of an East Coast and West Coast CREW federation of local groups. Meetings were held at the Wellshire Restaurant on South Colorado Boulevard in Denver, and I became active on the Programs Committee, continuing my commitment to high-level education, networking and access to opportunities at all levels in our industry.
In my opinion, being active and committed to at least one committee is the best way to meet other women in our field and make connections on both a business and personal level. You can quickly assess who follows up on their plans, who shares resources of time and talents, who is creative, who takes charge, who cares, who may need some active mentorship/sponsorship, who is open to taking on a task and seeing it through. This becomes a way to find colleagues, new employees, new friends, new sources for intel/information across the local metro area, across the country and now around the world. Truly an amazing opening for growth!
What are some pivotal moments during your involvement with the association?
Certainly, my most memorable moments during the 33 years being part of CREW Denver began in 1999 when a few of us were pondering an announcement made by CREW Baltimore of a 15th-anniversary party they were throwing to celebrate their accomplishments. Well, we were also celebrating 15 years. Let’s do it! We reached out for a copy of their invitation (a printed invitation was of course mailed to us), and we pretty much copied it verbatim. “THANK YOU, CREW BALTIMORE!” We formed a committee and created what became known as “Woman of Influence.” It was a one-time event for which we chose two outstanding women pioneers in Denver commercial real estate to honor over those past 15 years: Dana Crawford and Susan Powers, among seven finalists and over 40 nominees.
The event was a luncheon held at the Adams Mark Hotel (now Sheraton Denver Downtown Hotel), which was the venue for several years. In attendance were over 300 guests. The committee gathered historical data for Denver and CREW Denver’s development between 1984 and 1999, and we all wrote the content for the two-hour event. I served as emcee. Rick Pederson of Fredrick Ross was the main speaker with an update on the local commercial real estate market. His cautionary note was most visionary: take notice of online retailing and its effect on shopping malls, strip centers and big box development! Both Denver daily newspapers covered the event, and suddenly it became an annual event. The WOI committee each year determines what awards to present based on the regional market and women guiding that market over the year just ended. A huge shout-out to Jon Stern of the Commercial Real Estate Journal for being a major sponsor annually for these events and for his depth of knowledge and shared insights into the transformative nature of commercial real estate in our regional persona. It was an amazing experience to create an event that evolved over the past 25 years and became CREW Denver’s signature event, and one reproduced around the country by nearly every CREW chapter since then.
Beyond the excellence of the event details and careful execution thereof, was the opportunity for committee members to connect with award nominees, their colleagues and nominators, and hear stories of what happened behind the scenes as well as the comprehensive front-and-center newsworthiness of very dedicated people (women and men) in our industry. The WOI nomination and vetting processes were quite boisterous in the early years (and likely still remains so), as there were hundreds of highly qualified, history-making contestants in our midst.
Any favorite memories?
Other noteworthy events revolved around walking tours of properties being redeveloped or newly-developed projects/under construction on office, retail, multi-family, hotel and industrial parcels downtown, in Lowry, LoDo, Stapleton (now Central Park), Denver International Airport, Edgewater, so many places. Such events were always followed by a networking/social hour at fun locations, meeting new or long-time (and most interesting) members. I do recall one such event from which I was prohibited from participating in the tour due to my shoes not being of sturdy enough construction. Sadly, I ended up hanging out at the bar a few hours early but was given an extra drink ticket in compensation.
I also looked forward to monthly luncheon meetings that included panel discussions from specialists on various industry topics. These brought together a larger crowd and facilitated much discussion at the Ritz Carlton, the Wellshire, the Petroleum Club (yes indeed!), at DU’s Koebel Center, or at the Denver Athletic Club.
What important details do you recall?
The camaraderie and collaborative nature of members. Nearly all competed for projects or funding or servicing or professional advice, and yet it was a friendly competition. There was an abundance of opportunities for all to develop, jointly or individually. There was mutual admiration for accomplishments. Only recently has a formal mentorship program been established (thanks to Tamara Alexander and others), but there were many informal lunches, coffees and adult beverages shared between accomplished commercial real estate brokers, attorneys, title specialists, property managers, lenders, mortgage bankers, architects, county economic development councils, and those representing all facets of “a deal” with the newly-minted versions who scribed every detail of a success formula in a small notebook (spiral). Mary Sullivan, Candice Hewitt, Ann Sperling, Shelley Krovitz, Carolynne White, Amy Hanson, Bev Carlson, Beth O’Neill, Karen Samuels Jones, Patty Gage, Dana Crawford, Susan Powers, Susan Stanton, Marilee Utter, Linda Alvarado, and so many others always made themselves available to mentor those who reached out for advice.
Also, perennial sponsors of CREW Denver abounded (in no particular order):
First American Title
Key Bank
Otten Johnson Robinson Neff & Ragonnetti
Cushman & Wakefield
Chicago Title
Sherman & Howard
Trammell Crow
CBRE
JHL Constructors
MDH Law
PCL Construction
Polsinelli
Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck
Chase
FirstBank
and so many others whose sponsorships made this mission possible.
Why do you continue to stay involved?
Our successful mission is not yet realized. The salary and earning power of women in this industry improved over the past 40 years but are certainly nowhere close to equalizing with men. Women choosing to start a business in commercial real estate is a very low percentage. Women in C-Suite positions continue to grow, but, again, ever so slowly. And frankly (and selfishly), I find CREW professionals to be great prospects for my financial planning business: smart, dedicated, hard-working, committed to excellence, creative, collaborative, and generally putting her professional life ahead of her personal life. Which means one’s own finances take a low ranking (if ranked at all) on every agenda for defining a successful life. I try to redirect attention toward the achievement of personal financial goals as well as professional and family goals. With a 20-year background grounded in commercial real estate dealmaking, I can talk the talk of CREW members and provide trusted guidance on their personal dealmaking.
Any advice for the next generation?
Diversity, equity and inclusion are three words of thousands posed to describe a goal for humankind to achieve fair and equitable opportunities for all. ALL. No exclusions. Learn and practice inclusivity. Learn to ask and listen carefully. Practice conversations, not monologues. Be part of a caring community. Make a positive difference in this world. And if you are part of the commercial real estate industry, join a CREW chapter—or two.
This Q&A originally appeared here: https://denver.crewnetwork.org/resources/news/2024/crew-denver:-a-legacy-of-women-in-commercial-real-estate
