About the Women’s Initiative Network of New England
The Massachusetts Rhode Island & Maine Chapter along with the Connecticut Chapter and the New Hampshire / Vermont Chapter launched the Women’s Initiative of New England.in March 2024. The purpose and objective of this network is to promote the advancement of women within the appraisal profession, particularly in New England.
If you’re interested in joining us for live meetups please contact one of the committee members for more information.
You do not have to be a member of the Appraisal Institute to participate. Please share this page with your colleagues.
For more information, please contact our WIN group committee members using the form below.
Tina O’Connell, MAI, AI-GRS, Chair (Maine)
Susan Kelly, SRA (Rhode Island)
Melanie Kosich, MAI (Massachusetts)
Jennifer O’Neill, SRA, MNAA (Connecticut)
Leitha Reilly (New Hampshire and Vermont)
WIN Network News
October
Zoom Meeting Change
Our WIN committee has made some changes to the meeting schedule. Starting with our next Zoom meeting on November 14th, all Zoom meetings will be held on the 2nd Thursday of each month. Going forward, we’d like to change the zoom meeting format to a more informal “cocktail hour”, where everyone can feel free to pour a glass of your favorite beverage and join in the conversation. We will try to feature a short speaker presentation at each meeting, but our primary goal is to open up the time for chatting and getting to know each other. We hope you’ll want to join us and share in this unique networking opportunity. We will also strive to hold live get togethers at least once a quarter.
Next In-person Gathering
Our next in-person gathering will be on Monday, October 21st at the Four Points by Sheraton in Norwood, MA. If this date sounds familiar to you, its because WIN will meet at One Bistro, following the conclusion of the Opening Session of the New England Appraisers Expo at 4:00 pm. Pre-registration is NOT required to join WIN for this networking event. You don’t need to attend the Expo to join us at 4:00 pm, but if you would like more information at the New England Appraisers Expo, click here.
Topics Ideas – Your feedback is appreciated
In looking at topic ideas for our upcoming zoom meetings, the WIN committee would like to include presentations from different types of appraisal business models. Two examples that come to mind are small independent appraisal firm owners and national firm appraisers. (There may be others that we’re not thinking of yet, so please speak up.) We’d like to invite people from within our group that are appraisal business owners or employees from a national firm to share their experiences with us. Ideally, we are thinking of having 2 or 3 people for each topic as a panel of speakers. There can be different types of business models within the groups, but the common theme is business owners in one group and employees from national firms in the other group. Please reach out to Tina to let her know if you’d be interested in sharing your experience with the group and becoming a panelist. These two topics would be for our 11/14 and 12/12 zoom meetings.
September
Thank you to everyone who was able to attend the September WIN Zoom meeting which included a terrific presentation by Cindy Donaldson, Founder & CEO – Red Barn Consulting, LLC. If you want to learn more about the services Cindy offers, see her information below.
A Joint Event with the Counselors of Real Estate and the Massachusetts Rhode Island & Maine Chapter of the Appraisal Institute
When: Thursday, January 29, 2026
Where: Montgomery Room @ the Federal Reserve Boston, 600 Atlantic Avenue, Boston, MA
Schedule of Events:
11:15 am – 12:15 pm / Luncheon Served / Q1 2025 Chapter Business Meeting
12:15 pm – 2:15 pm / Two Hour CE Program
There is currently a surplus of vacant office space in downtown Boston due in large part to the work from home trend. There has also been a flight to quality in the office sector as many buildings haven’t kept pace with modern space use and trends. At the same time, Boston faces a housing shortage with a supply-vs.-demand imbalance. As building owners and potential investors explore what to do with these high vacancy assets, many are considering converting these office buildings into multifamily uses. However, office-to-multifamily conversion can be a complex and costly process involving many considerations including building infrastructure, the entitlement process, and financial feasibility. The program will start with a current overview of the downtown Boston office market followed by an explanation of the City of Boston expedited conversion entitlement process that has become a model for the nation. There will then be an overview of the City of Boston’s real estate tax incentive program enhancing the financial feasibility of these conversions followed by a developer’s presentation discussing two conversion projects currently underway in downtown Boston.
The educational offering will consist of 4 presentations:
James Cameron, Senior Managing Director, Newmark, Boston, MA
John Weil, Head of Office-to-Residential Conversions for the City of Boston
Nicholas Ariniello, City of Boston Commissioner of Assessing
Patrick Mahoney, CEO of Edge Properties
Continuing Education Credit: This program is approved by the Appraisal Institute for 2 hours. Applications will be submitted to the states of MA, ME RI and NH. If you need Connecticut CT credit, reach out to the Chapter office for assistance.
Learn more about being a program sponsor here.
Thank you to the companies below for their generous sponsorship of this program
