No Agenda, All Heart: How Genuine Connection Defines CREW Success
When Linden Combs sets out to make connections, she does it with a deeply personal purpose, not as a pure function of her role as Business Development Officer at CDI Contractors in Fayetteville, Arkansas. As the Membership Committee Chair of one of the recently formed CREW Network chapters, Combs has positioned herself to be visible to potential members and dealmakers simultaneously through the CREW Northwest Arkansas events her committee organizes. It is the type of visibility many would find ideal as someone with a career in business development, but Combs isn’t like most in the field, and would take a new, genuine friendship over a deal any day.
Take it from Leah Suzor, the first woman Director of Facilities at Highland Oncology, who met Combs at a Coffee & CREW event. The majority of Suzor’s professional counterparts have been historically men, and after learning of the event through a LinkedIn post, she took the opportunity to learn about an organization comprised of members opposite of her career cohorts. It was at this event where Suzor learned firsthand the power of CREW connections.
The commonality between the two was the concept of ‘firsts.’ While it was Suzor’s first exposure to CREW Network, it is Combs that had less than a year of experience within the commercial real estate industry. The quick connection between Suzor and Combs would yield an unsolicited deal, and the same deal would become CDI Contractors’ first experience with Highland Oncology, as well as the first time navigating a design-build approach.
While the two joined professional forces to bring CDI Contractors to the table of a new Highland Oncology upgrades project that is set to be completed at the end of 2025, Combs and Suzor will tell you that the deal is second to the genuine friendship they’ve established since meeting at the Coffee & CREW event. Combs illustrates that she isn’t a salesperson with an agenda to close deals over generating sincere relationships and shares that “you never know when the stranger sitting across from you may just turn into one of the most impactful people in your life and one of your most treasured friendships.” As for Suzor, the feeling is mutual, and explains that Linden “was the listening ear, kind heart, and wonderful soul that I did not know I needed as a friend and as a cohort in this industry.”
Based on her experience with this deal, Combs advises, “If you don’t get the deal—who cares. You got a friend, and that’s what matters more anyways,” a concept that is fundamentally at the core of CREW Network.
CREW Northwest Arkansas members involved in this deal
CDI Contractors
Highland Oncology
Chelsey Klasnich, American Drapery Systems
Chelsey Klasnich is the Vice President of Sales & Business Development at American Drapery Systems in Golden Valley, Minnesota, and holds a bachelor's degree in Communication Studies and Broadcast Journalism from The University of St. Thomas (St. Paul, MN) and a masters of business administration from St. Mary’s University- Twin Cities (Minneapolis, MN). A passionate solutions provider with over 16 years of experience in business development, sales, and marketing, she leverages these skills with her educational experience to contribute to the CREW Communications and Editorial Committee and her position as co-chair of MNCREW’s Finance Committee.
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