Cultivating IREM’s global community

At the 2025 IREM Leadership Forum (ILF), the IREM Strategic Plan was announced, laying the blueprint for the next five years of IREM’s goals and objectives. One of the plan’s tentpoles is community, with the explicit goal of fostering IREM’s dynamic global community by making connections and sharing knowledge among members across the globe. For decades, IREM has had an international presence in select markets.

In recent years, that presence has expanded significantly through the formation and rapid development of the new United Arab Emirates (UAE) Chapter and the launch of customized programs like the Africa Portal, which offers select IREM education to professionals in Africa. As part of the Strategic Plan, IREM will identify new partnerships and further develop current successful programs. No program better exemplifies IREM’s progress outside the U.S. than IREM Japan, one of the longest-running international IREM programs and the most consistently growing.

20+ years of global development: IREM Japan

IREM Japan has remained steady even through economic downturns and the pandemic, and with the help of IREM HQ’s strategic global initiatives, it’s been diligently focused on increasing its membership, which has grown to almost 1,000 members across the country.

IREM Japan comprises five chapters under the jurisdiction of the IREM Japan vice president, a role similar to that of a North American regional vice president, with most administrative work for all five chapters handled by the IREM Japan office in Tokyo. The office staff operates similarly to an IREM Association Executive (IAE), but Japan, as a market, has unique challenges that IREM Japan must navigate. The preference for live classroom learning and the need to print, stamp, and mail important documents are just a couple of local practices in Japan that color not just how a chapter is run but how the property management industry operates, making it distinctly different than business in the U.S.

During the 2025 ILF, IREM Japan’s Vice President, chapter presidents, and other chapter leaders attended a special session to discuss chapter management strategies with association-wide IREM leadership. IREM CEO Zack Wahlquist and Senior Director of International Programs Leah Misbin led the session; Immediate past-president Dawn Carpenter, CPM^®, current president Mindy Gronbeck, CPM^®, CCIM, and president-elect Kim Collins, CPM^®, hosted different segments of it. One segment featured a panel of IAEs from multiple U.S. chapters and UAE Chapter President Muhammad Jawad, CPM^®, who shared strategies and tips for chapter management and fundraising initiatives, with an emphasis on running an Industry Partner program.

Sponsorship is less widely known as a practice in Japan than in the United States. For many U.S. chapters, sponsorship programs are a great way to connect services with members and generate additional revenue. Only in the past year has IREM Japan begun implementing a sponsorship program. For them, one of the biggest hurdles is adapting the program to meet Japanese business sensibilities. For most firms, sponsorship in Japan is seen less as an opportunity to market or network and more as something with physical benefits or a direct exchange of products.

Laying the groundwork for sponsorship

To help address this, as a follow-up to the meeting with Japan leadership at ILF, Wahlquist and Misbin traveled to Japan to meet with the IREM Japan Board, potential sponsors, AMOs, and CPM-led companies and to have a deeper discussion about the needs of members and how they see the value of IREM in Japan. The trip was both an exploration of new opportunities and a chance to hear from members who could not come to ILF.

The busy schedule included meetings with AMOs in Japan. Outside the United States, Japan has the most AMOs, with one or two new AMOs joining the program every year. Wahlquist and Misbin met with both new and established AMOs to gauge what aspects of the AMO^® program are appealing in the market. One thing that helps is that Japan has its own instructors for Leading a Successful Property Management Company (BDM603), the course required when applying to be an AMO, and Japan has not only successfully marketed BDM603 as a course for both aspiring AMO Executive CPMs, but also for professionals at large. This positioning should help the program not just in Japan, but potentially on a global scale, as IREM looks to expand existing programs.

Wahlquist and Misbin also met with IREM Japan leadership to deliver a seminar on implementing a sponsorship program and to explore how to leverage the Japanese market’s focus on live seminars and course offerings.

Current IREM Japan Vice President Arihiro “Ari” Shintani, CPM^®, CCIM, felt that the meetings would set the stage for further development. “The recent visit by IREM HQ leadership, including Zack and Leah, was incredibly productive and provided great momentum for our chapters. Having them meet directly with our key corporate partners and discuss our shared vision was invaluable. As IREM Japan approaches the milestone of 1,000 members, we have designated this year as our ‘Year of Transformation’ to propel us toward our next goal of 2,000 members. Our immediate next steps include transitioning to a matrix organizational structure to empower next-generation leaders, hiring a dedicated IAE to strengthen our operations, and launching a new Industry Partner sponsorship program in Japan. Together with IREM HQ, we are committed to expanding our reach and elevating the real estate management profession in Japan.”

As IREM Japan continues to thrive, there remain several opportunities to learn from them as they learn from other IREM chapters.