I am honored to serve as NAREIT chair for the upcoming year. Succeeding Sam Zell as chair is a tough act to follow, and all of us are indebted to Sam for his outstanding stewardship of NAREIT during the past two years. In my tenure as your chair, I am committed to help move our industry forward in this new millennium.

At our very successful annual convention in Washington, DC, NAREIT celebrated "Forty Years of Preserving and Perfecting the REIT." Over the past four decades, publicly traded real estate has begun to revolutionize real estate investment by making income-producing commercial real estate accessible to small investors.

Real estate has evolved to an industry substantially more characterized by indirect investment. Our industry is becoming ever more transparent, predictable, accountable and professional, as experienced management has taken a strong foothold in all sectors. We have demonstrated our resilience and professionalism during the REIT downturn of 1998–1999, and as an industry are now enjoying the fruits of staying the course and focusing on operating fundamentals as we near the end of 2000.

The REIT industry at 40 is still a young, though maturing, industry, and we continue to face external challenges as well as growing pains. In January, the political landscape in Washington will change, with a new Administration and a new Congress. NAREIT's role in guiding the industry through this transition will be essential to our future success. Issues such as forced access to our properties by telecommunications providers and ensuring a level playing field between traditional retailers and Internet-based retailers will continue to provide challenges to the ways that our companies do business. And as our industry becomes better known and understood by policymakers, there may be even greater opportunities and challenges to come.

In addition to policymakers, over the last few years NAREIT has redoubled its efforts in reaching out to our other key audiences, most notably the investment community and the media. NAREIT has made great strides in telling the REIT and publicly traded real estate story to more and more people, both on Wall Street and on Main Street. I believe through its conferences and continued aggressive investor outreach, NAREIT can help foster an even better dialogue with the investment community and others interested in our industry.

On behalf of the Executive Committee and the Board of Governors, I want to thank you for your continued support of NAREIT. I look forward to working with Steve Wechsler and his team at NAREIT and with all NAREIT members to build upon the successes of our industry association.

Warren E. (Ned) Spieker
Nareit chair