I am honored to begin my term as Nareit’s 2023 chair, following in the footsteps of my immediate predecessor, Marguerite Nader, president & CEO of Equity Lifestyle Properties, Inc. I would like to thank Marguerite for the hard work and dedication she has shown over the past year, a period marked by the reopening of so much in our personal and professional lives—including, of course, the return of in-person Nareit conferences.
As we gather in San Francisco for REITworld, our industry continues to operate in a challenging macroeconomic environment facing high inflation and rising interest rates, which have increasingly elevated worries about the health of the broader economy. Although the public real estate market has not been immune to these challenges, it has proven to be quite resilient from an operational performance perspective.
Over the course of the year ahead, I expect our industry will have many conversations as to how best to deal with the potential challenges that economic hardships might bring. At the same time though, opportunities for our industry certainly remain—not least in terms of working to better reflect and draw strength from the communities we serve.
Standing firm with shared goals as an industry, backed by strong leadership and representation from Nareit, is something I will continue to advocate for in the coming year.
As I begin my term as Nareit chair, I am also overlapping with the end of an era for REIT magazine. Starting in the new year, Nareit will no longer publish a bimonthly magazine. Instead, the content REIT executives and industry professionals have valued for more than two decades will now be made directly available on a regular basis on REIT.com.
Changing way that this information is published will shorten the turnaround time for stories and ensure that content is more responsive, relevant, and accessible. I look forward to watching Nareit adapt to a changing environment for news consumption and encourage members to support it in that effort. I am sure we will continue to enjoy the quality and range of stories with this evolution of Nareit’s publishing strategy.
In the meantime, I will do my part to ensure that the coming year continues to validate the ongoing soundness, appeal, and potential of the REIT model for real estate investment, and that it brings further success to our industry and all who support it.