CREW Network Announces 2022 CREW Catalyst, Circle of Excellence, Distinguished Leader and Impact Award Recipients

Lawrence, Kansas, USA (Sept. 28, 2022) – CREW Network recognized excellence and achievement in commercial real estate (CRE) by honoring 12 industry leaders with the organization’s Catalyst, Circle of Excellence, Distinguished Leader, and Impact awards on Sept. 22 and 23 at the 2022 CREW Network Convention in Chicago, Illinois. CREW Network’s awards program recognizes and celebrates extraordinary leadership and achievement in CRE. The awards categories and 2022 honorees follow.

Circle of Excellence
The Circle of Excellence award recognizes individuals and companies who consistently deliver excellence, and whose efforts advance the CRE industry and show support for our mission. Inductees demonstrate excellence, integrity, and innovation, and serve as thought leaders, change agents and champions of diversity.

The 2022 Circle of Excellence honoree is B. Diane Butler, long-time CREW member, leader, advocate, mentor, and donor. Regarded as an expert and trailblazer in her field of valuation, she co-founded Butler Burgher Group (BBG) in 1992. Under her leadership, BBG became the fastest-growing, independent CRE valuation and consulting firm in the U.S.  Butler joined CREW in 1994, serving CREW Dallas in many leadership capacities. She was CREW Network President in 2012 and a CREW Network Distinguished Leader in 2014. In addition, Butler is a Champion Founder of the CREW Network Foundation Scholarship Endowment and a CREW Visionary.

(l-r) CREW Network President Barbi Reuter, Diane Butler, and CREW Network CEO Wendy Mann.  

CREW Catalyst Award
The CREW Catalyst Award honors industry leaders who are committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion in commercial real estate. This industry-wide award recognizes a senior-level executive who has consistently demonstrated a commitment to advancing women, serving as a catalyst for change in their company and throughout the industry. The 2022 CREW Catalyst honorees are:

Allison Bittel
Senior Vice President & Principal, Colliers

Bittel is a trailblazing commercial real estate advisor in Atlanta. With Colliers’ support and as a recognized leader in the firm, in 2019, she founded a non-profit organization, The Women’s Collective, to build a network of C-suite and executive level women to support one another and drive change through education, mentorship and workplace transformation. In 2022, she founded Leaders on the Rise, the organization’s exclusive mentorship program for women and people of color.

Clayton Mitchell
Senior Vice President, Real Estate and Facilities, Thomas Jefferson University Hospitals

Mitchell leads delivery of real estate, facilities, and public safety across 18 hospitals, a university, 18 million sq. ft., and more than 350 facilities throughout Philadelphia and Southern New Jersey. He has led a complete overhaul of the culture within real estate and facilities at Jefferson to drive greater emphasis on DEI and the acceptance of supplier diversity as a core tenet of corporate strategic sourcing measures. He frequently mentors and provides insights on removing barriers to access.

2022 Catalyst Award honoree Clayton Mitchell with CREW Network Recognition Committee Chair Tara Piurko

Distinguished Leaders
CREW Network Distinguished Leaders are extraordinary women in CRE who have achieved significant success through hard work and a commitment to excellence. They have demonstrated exceptional leadership qualities and paved a path for those coming up behind them. 2022 honorees:

Chandra Dhandapani
CEO, Global Workplace Solutions, CBRE

As a member of the company’s Executive Committee and CEO of GWS, she oversees the delivery of all services, including facilities management, project management and transaction services, to local and multinational occupier clients around the world.  Prior to joining CBRE, she was a senior executive at Capital One Financial for 17 years, including Digital Transformation Leader and Chief Information Officer of the bank’s Financial Services division.

Leeny Oberg
Executive Vice President, Business Operations and Chief Financial Officer, Marriott International

Oberg has served as Marriott’s CFO since 2016. She was previously CFO for The Ritz-Carlton, where she contributed significantly to the brand’s performance, growth, and organizational effectiveness. Before returning to Marriott in the CFO role, she served in a range of financial leadership positions with Marriott including Senior Vice President, Corporate and Development Finance; and Senior Vice President, International Project Finance and Asset Management, EMEA.

Deborah Quok
Senior Vice President of SVN Capital West Partners

Quok has extensive experience in commercial brokerage, consulting and corporate real estate, with a current focus on office and medical office leasing and sales. She was the first woman of color to serve as CREW Network President and has been recognized for her leadership and vision in developing the organization’s industry-leading research on women in CRE nearly two decades ago.  Quok also served in many leadership roles with CREW Sacramento and CREW San Francisco.

Impact Awards
The CREW Network Impact Awards recognize member achievements considered exceptional. The industry-wide awards were presented in five categories, listed below with the 2022 honorees:

Entrepreneurial Spirit Impact Award
Jeanne Peck
Principal, Darrow Peck Investments
CREW Chicago

Peck is committed to making Chicago’s underserved urban areas a place where residents are proud to call home and create an attractive, stable market for the middle class. She formed her company in 2020 and has been involved in the production or preservation of over 200 multifamily affordable housing units. Peck’s goal is to draw upon some of the institutional level disciplines to make transactions in the underserved areas of Chicago more accessible and attainable.

Economic and Community Improvement Impact Award
Aletha Dunston
Director of Indianapolis Economic Development
IndyCREW

Dunston led the re-development of Fort Benjamin Harrison from a historic, vacated military installation to a walkable, mixed-use campus known as Fort Ben. As Executive Director of this project, she fostered growth through business attraction, retention, and expansion programs that resulted in creation of jobs, capital investment, tax base, and a new city center; the addition of 350 residential units, a Hilton hotel, a library branch, and another $135 million in projects in process.

Member-to-Member Impact Award
Sharon Herrin
President/Broker, Herrin Commercial Real Estate
CREW Dallas

Sandra Taylor
Principal, SL Taylor Investments, LLC
CREW Dallas

Always looking to connect CREW members for deals and transactions, this duo involved 13 members in the initial acquisition of The Wesley, a multifamily asset, in 2020. When the asset was refinanced in February 2022, they brought in two more CREW members, and when it was listed for sale in 2022, another member made an offer to purchase it. In total, 16 CREW members were involved in the acquisition, refinance, and disposition of this multifamily asset.

Career Advancement for Women Impact Award
Shirley Anderson
Business Development Manager, Klinger Constructors, LLC
CREW New Mexico

Anderson’s impact can be measured by countless CREW members who have moved up in their companies, taken on leadership roles, and made hard life changes because she believed they could. She has made women in the CRE industry feel welcomed, valued, appreciated, heard, and supported. Never one to sit on the sidelines, she has been highly involved with CREW Network Foundation and her chapter as a charter member of CREW New Mexico and serving as president in 2014.

Rising Star Impact Award
Kristin Hornberger
Associate Broker, Midwest Healthcare, JLL
IndyCREW

Hornberger is a member of the JLL Midwest Healthcare broker leasing team, specializing in medical office ownership representation. She came to CRE in 2016 as her second career and is determined to carve out her own path and advance women along the way. She is a 2022 CREW Network Leadership Certificate Program participant and a 2022 Career Opportunities in Real Estate (CORE) mentor and volunteer.