Last week, CREW Chicago held its 8th Industry Leadership Achievement Award Dinner. Over 350 gathered to celebrate Trish Kelly, president of TCF Commercial Banking. Kelly is a long-standing, active member of CREW Chicago and has provided her leadership skills to many CREW Chicago events. Kelly was chosen for her tireless commitment to helping women in the commercial real estate industry by mentoring and modeling how to be key contributors to their organizations.
Kelly has more than 30 years leading corporate and real estate lending businesses. She is nationally recognized for her deep expertise in real estate and commercial lending, credit and real estate operations for multiple national and global organizations. At TCF Commercial Banking, Kelly is responsible for leading the commercial banking business and oversees all aspects of business development, relationship management and operations.
A highlight of the evening, held on February 28th at the Standard Club, was the video comprised of friends, family and colleagues sharing recollections and congratulating Kelly. “[Trish is] not the one to seek the glory, she’s always pushing her team forward to get the credit, but for this, this is for you, Trish…,” said Craig Dahl, chairman and chief executive officer of TCF Financial Corporation.
The evening’s keynote and theme was Giving: A Powerful Leadership Quality. In her remarks, Kelly began with a story about her father’s guidance that she give to her church collection every week. This led to countless ways giving has enriched her personally and professionally. Throughout her career, Kelly has worked at multiple companies, and giving of herself has allowed her to understand more deeply the needs of her teams, which in turn helped her build a valuable skill set. Throughout her speech were calls to keep an openness to diversity and different abilities.
She held up the example of Jim Abbott, an MLB pitcher who played from 1989-99. Displaying determination and the best kind of self-confidence, he sought to change his image from “the best one-handed pitcher” to “the best pitcher,” and ultimately pitched a no-hitter in 1993 at a critical game. Kelly urged the audience to build trust, pay attention to colleagues and find ways to give every day.
As a part of the dinner, CREW Chicago president Amy Blumenthal presented three deserving recipients—Valerie Clarke, Dahlia Cohen and Aana Tsakiris—each with a $3,000 scholarship Award. Blumenthal also enthusiastically thanked CREW’s event sponsors for their generous support. Those at the Diamond Level were CA Ventures, Friedman Properties, Golub & Company, MBG Consulting and TCF Bank. Those giving at the Sapphire Level were Draper & Kramer, Gould and Ratner, and TCF Bank. Those at the Blue Topaz Level were Banner Real Estate Group, Belgravia Group, CIBC, Cushman & Wakefield, Dykema, First American Title Company, Inland Mortgage, Ginsberg Jacobs, Levenfeld Pearlstein, Much Shelist, OKW Architects, Shepard Schwartz & Harris, V3 and the CREW Chicago Past Presidents.