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28 July 7 • 2016
CREW Detroit helps women in the commercial real estate industry.
Hope Brown | Special to the Jewish News
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0DUWLQ %HONLQ '2
© 2015 Novartis
Women Supporting Women
urrently celebrating its 30th
anniversary, CREW Detroit, one
of 74 CREW chapters across
the U.S. and Canada, is an organization
of commercial real estate professionals,
which includes more than 160 Metro
Detroit area experts representing every
discipline in the commercial real estate
industry, including architects, attorneys,
brokers, contractors, designers, develop-
ers, lenders, title agents and more. The
more than 150 members represent more
than 130 local firms and nonprofits.
And exactly zero of them are men.
CREW Detroit —
or Commercial Real
Estate Women Detroit
— is a founding
member of the CREW
Network, an organi-
zation dedicated to
advancing the success
of women in the tra-
Dana Kreis
ditionally male-dom-
Glencer
inated industry. At its
helm are two Jewish
women, Board of Directors President
Dana Kreis Glencer and Board President
Elect Andrea Burg.
Kreis Glencer, 42, is an attorney and
member/partner at Bloomfield Hills-
based Dawda Mann, where she has
worked since 2001 and is responsible
for transactions in the sale, purchase
and leasing of commercial real estate.
She is a 1991 graduate of Berkley High
School and 1995 graduate of Oakland
University, where she played women’s
soccer. Kreis Glencer then graduated
Cum Laude in 1998 from Michigan
State University Detroit College of Law.
A mother of two daughters — ages
8 and 10 — Kreis Glencer, who was
raised in Huntington Woods and now
resides in Bloomfield Village, is com-
mitted to demonstrating for her girls
the importance of women supporting
other women as well as the ideals of
education, hard work and volunteerism
that her Jewish upbringing instilled in
her. She had her bat mitzvah at Temple
Beth El, where she and her family are
still members today and both of her
daughters attend religious school.
“I chose to get involved with CREW
Detroit because I saw a close-knit group
of women that helped each other …
whether to secure business, obtain
referrals, advance their careers or offer
advice, and it really struck a note with
me how powerful a network of women
can be,” Kreis Glencer says. “I have
found referrals, new business leads and
clients to help me professionally, but
I also have gained invaluable relation-
ships and personal friendships. I don’t
know that enough women recognize the
power in learning from other women.”
Despite its heavy prevalence of male
professionals, Kreis Glencer finds com-
mercial real estate a career choice quite
well-suited to women’s skill sets, espe-
cially in terms of negotiation and multi-
tasking. She also would encourage
young women to consider commercial
real estate as a career path for the work/
life balance it can afford.
“It’s a good career for balancing work
and family,” Kreis Glencer says. “I can
take a conference call on the soccer field
while watching and supporting my girls
and then draft documents later in the
evening after they’ve gone to bed.”
When asked for her best career
advice, Kreis Glencer advises young
women to keep it classy. “Always main-
tain professionalism and decorum in
both your appearance and actions,” she
says. “Dress appropriately, don’t swear
in the workplace and follow through on
your commitments. There is nothing
worse than someone who overpromises
and underdelivers.”
CREW Detroit’s
Board President
Elect, Andrea Burg,
51, is vice president
of project and devel-
opment services at
JLL, a financial and
professional services
firm that manages
Andrea Burg
new construction and
renovations for its
real estate projects.
A 20-year commercial real estate
industry veteran — and no stranger
to being the only woman in the room
— Burg earned her bachelor of sci-
ence degree in civil engineering with a
concentration in construction manage-
ment from the College of Engineering
at the University of Michigan. Prior
to that, the Oak Park native and now
Bloomfield Township resident gradu-
ated from Oak Park High School. She
has been actively involved in CREW
Detroit for a number of years, previ-
ously serving on the board of directors
in 2012-2013 and as the group’s spon-
sorship chair from 2008 to 2011. As
president elect, Burg will begin her term
as Detroit chapter president in 2017.
“Through my involvement in CREW,
I’ve been able to meet and work with so
many women who have the same work
ethic and client focus that I have,” Burg
says. “On one of my most recent proj-
ects, every consultant and contractor
was a CREW member company. It’s very
gratifying to know that you are working
with people who you can count on to
perform.”
Burg chose the commercial real estate
field and would encourage other women
to do so because of the diversity of work
available in the industry. She also would
encourage young women to find work
in what they enjoy.
“I think there are so many career
paths and opportunities in the commer-
cial real estate field, and I do what I love
and love what I do,” Burg says. “Find
a career that you are passionate about.
It’s important to be able to have fun at
work.”
Burg, who also is a mother of two,
grew up in a strong Jewish community,
where the majority of her friends and
neighbors were Jewish. She has fond
memories of summers spent at Camp
Tamarack and family holiday meals at
her Bubbie and Zaydie’s house, which
eventually transitioned to her parents’
house.
“It was important to me to save all of
my mother’s serving pieces when she
and my father passed away,” says Burg.
“I want our children to have those same
memories.”
One memory Burg is hoping to see
fade, however, is the steep inequality in
industries like commercial real estate.
Commenting on results from a recent
CREW Network benchmark survey of
women in the industry, Burg says, “It is
good to see that there have been some
gains in compensation, positions and
job satisfaction for women. But it still
is a bit disheartening to see how much
further women need to go.”
*
For more information on CREW Detroit, visit www.
crewdetroit.org.