Some of the business world's most rewarding experiences come from building partnerships. Cooperation between enterprises and people can often produce startling results.

One of the most satisfying parts of heading an organization like NAREIT is the opportunity to watch relationships between our members and outside stakeholders grow and flourish. The inevitable result: improvements to our communities.

Large institutional investors, for example, routinely recognize the wealth of knowledge and experience offered by REITs. Pension plans such as the California Public Employees' Retirement System have allocated billions of dollars in sum to joint ventures with REITs.

Additionally, REITs have teamed up with each other to develop and manage assets and projects. Sometimes this involves companies combining their capital resources for an acquisition.

NAREIT also has embraced the benefit of partnerships when it comes to advancing the dialogue on public policy issues, as well as on the REIT investment proposition.

In the United States, our partners include organizations like The Real Estate Roundtable, which works with NAREIT to address an array of federal policy questions relating to commercial real estate and its role in our national economy. Likewise, NAREIT has formed valuable partnerships with influential property sector trade associations, such as the National Multi Housing Council (NMHC). Recently, NAREIT also led and participated in the partnership efforts of the broad-ranging Coalition to Insure Against Terrorism (CIAT), which last year helped secure sound public policy when the Terrorism Risk Insurance Revision and Extension Act (TRIREA) of 2007 was signed into law by President Bush.

NAREIT has cultivated fruitful partnerships with other like-minded groups outside the U.S., like the European Public Real Estate Association (EPRA). Last year NAREIT joined with EPRA and other international real estate groups to form the Real Estate Equity Securitization Alliance (REESA), a coalition dedicated to telling the story of securitized real estate to investors and policy makers around the world.

NAREIT's global partnership with index manager FTSE also has paid tangible dividends to NAREIT members. The FTSE NAREIT U.S. Real Estate Index Series and FTSE EPRA/NAREIT Global Real Estate Index provide access to measures of real estate performance used by academics, practitioners and investment professionals alike. Furthermore, thanks to financial products tied to these indexes, investors now have more options to capitalize on real estate investment's benefits.

Finally, NAREIT owes a special debt of gratitude to its sponsorship partners who help make some of our most important outreach efforts possible. Major events like REITWeek®, taking place June 4 through 6 in New York at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, would be nothing more than a good idea without the support of industry sponsors. At REITWeek, the REIT industry's sharpest minds will gather to analyze emerging trends and share ideas on the most important developments at the world's premier real estate companies. I look forward to seeing you there, and I hope that you will find a host of exciting opportunities and fresh perspectives, as well as numerous prospective partners, awaiting you.

Martin E. Stein, Jr.
NAREIT Chair
Chairman and CEO
Regency Centers Corporation