RENEW was conceived by Co-Presidents, Lisa Hurd and Sharon Plattner, after attending a local market update where only 6 of the 250 attendees were women. That evening they attended a closing dinner, where they were the only two women at the table. Lisa and Sharon began discussing the lack of women in the industry and came up with a plan to try and change it. That evening RENEW was born!

Real Estate Network Empowering Women (RENEW), Inc. is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization aimed at furthering the professional development of women in all phases of commercial real estate finance. In particular, it focuses on women in the following fields: origination/production, underwriting, investment sales, capital markets, law and asset management.

RENEW promotes communication and mentoring among professional real estate women, while encouraging their recognition and advancement in the industry. In addition, RENEW provides scholarship opportunities to women seeking both undergraduate and graduate level degrees in commercial real estate / finance.