CREATE Celebrates 10th Anniversary

Delivering diverse, educated and career-ready employees to the CRE industry since 2012

CREATE celebrated its 10th Anniversary on October 4 bringing together students currently enrolled in the CREATE Fellows program at SF State, Fellows alumni, instructors and other program volunteers, and donors who support this results-driven, workforce development program. Fellows Alums shared their personal stories of how the program impacted their career path and provided them employment opportunities upon graduation.

Over the past decade, CREATE evolved from an effort to tackle the CRE talent deficit and has grown into a partnership of 4 real estate associations (BOMA San Francisco, BOMA Oakland/East Bay, NAIOP San Francisco Bay Area and IREM San Francisco) delivering a 16-module curriculum offered at SF State and Merritt College, of which SF State is recognized as having among the most diverse student population in the nation. 400+ students have graduated from the program and approximately 30% have gained employment in the industry upon graduation. To facilitate cost effective hiring, CREATE’s career portal enables employers to post entry-level jobs and internships at no cost, and candidates to post their resumes.

As CREATE embarks on its next decade, we see an opportunity in what we have produced, especially, as it relates to increasing diversity in our industry and bringing a richer set of ideas to the CRE table. With the harsh reality of a retiring workforce, we must continue to expand and diversify our talent pool. The talent drought affects us all — owners, managers, vendors –and together, we can proactively achieve a sustainable workforce. This program is sustained by the monetary contributions from the industry employers that it serves. Donate today

CREATE's commercial real estate fellows classes support our industry’s growing employment needs.
Tawni Sullivan, Board Chair, Consultant, JNT Solutions

If you're not involved in this you are missing a great opportunity. Get involved, participate, contribute.
Glenn Good, Glenn Good Group

We’re not only training a CRE workforce through our partnership with CREATE; we’re highlighting commercial real estate as a career alternative in a highly complex, technology focused Bay Area.
Sandra Boyle, Cushman & Wakefield

I’ve been so impressed with the quality of interns our company has sourced through CREATE's training program; we’ve now hired several of them as full-time employees!
Rick Buziak, Swift Real Estate Partners

It's hard to come up with something that would make CREATE better. I truly believe they give you everything you need to get the most out of the program.
Cameron Newcomb, CREATE Fellows Graduate 2021, employed by JLL

CREATE completely surpassed all of my expectations. Everything I was able to learn in CREATE I'm actually able to put to work everyday. It's not just property management, its leasing, its design and more.
Alexis Escaranio, CREATE Fellows Graduate 2021, employed by Resource Commercial Real Estate

The CREATE program prepared me for the job and then also through their job board I was able to find a job.
Jered Baker, CREATE Fellows Graduate 2020, employed by Swift Real Estate Partners

The CREATE program gave me that framework to understand how a building operates that I wouldn't have been able to learn without time in the industry.
Marco McCartney, CREATE Fellows Graduate 2021, employed by JLL

The amount of success I've had through CREATE has been incredible. The network that I built through the CREATE program created the pathway to my new position.
Kaitlyn Klinger, CREATE Fellows Graduate 2020, employed by VTS

Keep on looking to CREATE for a talent pipeline because that right there brings so much value to your company.
Christine Mann, Rockhill Management

How much have we contributed to the companies that we've worked with? A little donation is trivial compared to what we contribute to these companies.
Cameron Maharaj, CREATE CRE Certificate Holder, JLL

The best way to get an employee that's eager and hungry to learn more is definitely through the CREATE program.
Amy La, CREATE Fellows Graduate 2021, Employed by JLL

Our biggest asset in commercial real estate is our people. Bringing in students from diverse backgrounds will help us ask the right questions and evolve our business to provide an even better product for our clients.
Mark Kelly, ABM

We're on the right track with this program. It's fantastic.
Linda Foster, LPC RiverRock