Presidential Visits to Support the US Chapter

Jul 16, 2019 Latest News

Since taking office as FIABCI World President, Walid Moussa has had a busy couple of months visiting and supporting different Chapters around the world while sharing his vision for the year ahead. One of these Chapters was FIABCI-USA.

On July 9th, greeted by FIABCI-USA President Kellee Buhler, World President Walid Moussa headed to Chicago, the first stop of the U.S. tour, where he held several meetings with leading real estate professionals and FIABCI-USA Principal Members the next day: National Association of REALTORS®, Council of Residential Specialists, Appraisal Institute.

Walid Moussa then flew to Detroit for "Going Global", an event hosted by the Chicago Midwest Council on July 11th. Accompanied by a traditional Lebanese Dabke performance, the World President delivered a keynote address that inspired the crowd with exciting news and goals for FIABCI.

“...the purpose of the event was twofold. Our council covers 9 states in the Midwest USA. All but 3 members were in the Chicago, Illinois area and I wanted to expand our membership presence to the other 8 states, starting with my home state of Michigan. Secondly, there is little known about the resiliency and amazing rebirth and energy in the real estate sector of Detroit. Therefore, I wanted to bring top global real estate professionals into the city to experience it for themselves and share what they learned with the world. I believe we accomplished our purpose resoundingly.” President FIABCI-USA, Chicago Midwest Council Dee Dee Ohara Blizard said.

On July 12th in Atlanta, the "World Connect Series" took place. The Southeast/Atlanta Council of FIABCI welcome the World President who shared the benefits of the organization and his vision for this year with the guests, as well as congratulated the four members who recently joined FIABCI. The following day, Lennar International opened the doors to Global Partner's newest smart home and took the FIABCI Delegation on an interesting tour.

The last stretch of the presidential visit was reserved for New York. The highlights of this part of the trip were the exchanges with FIABCI-USA President Kellee Buhler and Vice-President Nicole Beauchamp, a small reception - "Twilight Toast" - hosted by the New York Council in a new development and, last but not least, the "Urban Thinkers Campus: Affordable Metropolis Series".

The latter was an initiative organized by FIABCI-USA and UN-Habitat Civil Societies Working Group that focused on Sustainable Development Goals in conjunction with Affordable Housing, through panel discussions comprised of experts in these areas presenting thought provoking initiatives and ideas and inviting the audience to participate in such discussions.