Crew rows on

Nearly 400 real estate professionals and others packed the Hilton Tampa when the region's Commercial Real Estate Women chapter held its annual “Meet the Mayors” economic summit in early June.

And while the crowd's size was largely attributable to the attendance by the trio of municipal leaders from Clearwater, St. Petersburg and Tampa, it also was a testament to the group's popularity.

“I think it's been so successful because there just isn't any other organization whose mission is the success of women in commercial real estate,” said Deborah Sheridan, a Hancock Bank commercial lender and the chapter's 2015 president. “I think that's why it has such a loyal membership and is growing.”