NEW FOR NEWIRE

At tomorrow?s annual NEWIRE meeting, Riemer & Braunstein?s Joan Parsons will become prez of the group that helps women advance in an industry dominated by men. During her career, she's had great mentors and in this down cycle plans to spur members to redouble their networking efforts.
We snapped Joan in her downtown office, where she tells us tomorrow she'll ask members to commit to attending at least two NEWIRE events a month, even if they're small informal gatherings like a wine tasting. In the fall, she hopes to start a series of informal informational interviews, so members can fill each other in on how their respective firms operate, which ones might have job openings, what skills they value, and how to approach them. When NEWIRE reconvenes after its summer recess, she says she'll also organize a session examining what's new in capital markets. Overall, she says she wants to focus on encouraging effective networking that leads to business opportunities, fostering leadership skills, and mentoring at all levels.
As she often does, Joan is conferring with other attorneys at the firm,Alison Johnson and Martha Faigen, NEWIRE members. A 21-year veteran attorney specializing in real estate finance (and mother of four), Joan says growing up in Braintree, she sought insight from her mother Fran Parsons (a retired teacher), family friend Edna English(a town selectwoman), and her father Dick (also involved in local politics). In her legal practice, she represents brand-name lenders and lately has been doing a lot of amend and extend. What really floats her boat? To work on a development from permitting to construction, leasing, and operations. ?To see a building go up and fill with tenants, that's quite a process.?

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