In With The New

December 16, 2010 | 7:00 am ET Staff Reporter

The first duty of the Metro NY Chapter of the Appraisal Institute’s newly sworn-in ’11 president Steven Schleider (second from right): choosing the Prince George Hotel for his installation and the chapter’s annual holiday party. Above, he joins master of ceremonies Eric Lewis of Cushman & Wakefield, Steven’s wife Beth and daughters Jessica and Allie, and installing officer Martin Levine of Metropolitan Valuation Services. He chose the hotel for the architectural interest of the recently restored ballroom and the adjacent World Monuments Fund Gallery (where the cocktail reception was held). Bonus: revenues from the events benefit Common Ground, which purchased the hotel in ’97 and now provides 416 high-quality studio apartments for formerly homeless and low-income individuals.

To the delight of the over 200 guests, there wasn’t an expected appraiser named as “Person of the Year.” Instead, retiring president Kenneth Wong of Regional Appraisal Associates surprised chapter administrator Connie Puccio with the lifetime achievement award, and rightfully so—she's worked for 19 consecutive chapter presidents, many whom were in attendance and among those giving her a standing ovation.

Some appraisal party animals: Brown Harris Stevens’ Alice Palmisano, Albert Valuation Group’s Daniel Sciannameo, KTR Real Estate Advisors’s Theresa Nygard, Leitner Group’s Joel Leitner, and Appraisers & Planners’ Ruth Agnese. All see reason for optimism in ‘11, with predictions that the real estate industry is recharging. We’ll see more transactions and a slow but steady improvement to the economy (although job creation will lag behind). As for holiday plans, Alice, Dan, Theresa and Ruth are staying close to home, but intrepid world traveler Joel and family will be heading to the Galapagos Islands.

And the snowy New York skyline was the perfect backdrop for NYCREW’s annual holiday party and Vanguard awards at the D&D Building’s Astra Monday night. Here, we snapped Marcus & Millichap’s Karen Dome, winner of the NYCREW Network Award for Mentoring; award sponsor Prudential Douglas Elliman’s Faith Hope Consolo; outgoing NYCREW prez Sharon Khurdan, winner of the PDE Award for Overall Contributions to NYCREW Network; award sponsor Wall Street Journal’s Deborah Falcone, and Wells Fargo’s Christine Chipurnoi, winner of the Wall Street Journal Award for Professionalism. Missing is The LeFrak Organization’s Liz Muskat, who won the PDE Award for Winning Referrals—we hope she was closing a humongous year-end deal.

The night also included the induction of NYCREW’s 2011 executive officers and directors: Fidelity National Title’s Isabelle Pullis(director), Deborah Falcone (director), Cole Schotz’s Wendy Berger(treasurer), Hartman & Craven’s Tracey Daniels (director), Wells Fargo’s Christine Chipurnoi (secretary), Trepp’s Shari Linnick(prez elect), Karen Dome (prez), Crowell & Moring’s Barbara Champoux (past president), and Faith Hope Consolo (director). Also directors, but not pictured, is The Community Development Trust’s Joan Berkowitz and Eurohypo’s Jo Hastings.

Also celebrated were five and 10-year NYCREW members, who have certainly survived the market’s top and bottom: Nancy Wood, LVM Group’s Jeannette Boccini, Deborah Falcone, Wendy Berger, Isabelle Pullis, Barbara Champoux, First American Title’s Theresa Garelli, Chicago National Title’s Pat Lopinski, Commercial Mortgage Securities Association’s Dottie Cunningham, (seated) Sklar Realty Group’s Lydia Sklar, CC Strategies' Stephanie Cuba, Faith Hope Consolo, Karen Dome, and Fidelity National Title’s Pauline Brown. Congrats to all!

In With The New

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