Elizabeth Collins, vice president of development for the Peabody Companies, a group of award-winning property management and real estate firms, is one of 31 women from throughout New England to have been named to the 2019 class of Women of FIRE by Banking New England magazine. The 2019 Women of FIRE will be honored at an awards luncheon on Friday, October 11, at The Verve Crowne Plaza in Natick, MA.

The FIRE (Finance, Insurance and Real Estate) sector has emerged as a keystone of the New England economy, transforming the knowledge, wealth and dreams of the world’s most ambitious visionaries into reality. As more and more women rise to the top of businesses and institutions in this sector, there is a growing need to shine a light on their achievements to inspire others.

Collins was selected in part based on her track record for successfully developing or repositioning more than $550M of completed affordable housing projects -- including construction of new communities, adaptive reuse of historic buildings into housing, and preserving, repositioning and refinancing existing affordable housing. Collins focuses the firm’s development efforts on complex financing structures, management intensive populations and highly regulated complexes, and is the organization’s “go to” person for the organization’s Veterans housing initiative, which thus far has developed five Veterans Housing Communities for formerly homeless Veterans that have become an innovative, award-winning model for permanent supportive housing for homeless Veterans, and which currently provide housing and services for veterans in approximately 225 apartment homes in five communities in Massachusetts and New Jersey.

“Banking New England identifies the most talented, the most ambitious, the most innovative and the most philanthropic Women of FIRE. Women of FIRE recipients are chosen through a very selective process,” said Vincent M. Valvo, publisher and editor of Banking New England.

The Women of FIRE will be featured in the September/October issue of Banking New England and will receive their awards on October 11 at the luncheon being held in their honor. The keynote speaker for the event is Kristina Tsipouras, a 34-year old serial entrepreneur and Massachusetts native who saw a need for a fresh new networking group in town and founded Boston Business Women.

“Thank you to everyone at Banking New England for this wonderful honor, and congratulations to all of my fellow recipients,” said Collins. “I look forward to meeting them and learning more about their incredible contributions to these fields as well.”

About the Peabody Companies

The Peabody Companies and its affiliates – Peabody Properties, Peabody Resident Services, Peabody Supportive Housing, Peabody Real Estate and Peabody Miami – is headquartered in Braintree, Massachusetts, at 536 Granite Street. A full-service real estate firm, Peabody Properties manages over 13,000+ units of housing throughout New England, as well as additional communities in New Jersey and Florida. This award-winning, privately held company and Accredited Management Organization (AMO) was incorporated in 1976 and is under the direction of Karen Fish-Will and Melissa Fish-Crane, who were recently ranked #31 (out of 50) on Glassdoor’s 2018 SMB Top CEOs list. Recognizing its long-term commitment to Resident Services as a unique area of expertise within the field of property management, a specialty sector, Peabody Resident Services was established and is dedicated solely to the development of support services and programs for residents of affordable housing. Designated as a Women Business Enterprise (WBE), and certified by the Massachusetts State Office of Minority and Women Business Assistance (SOMWBA), Peabody was recently ranked #49 on the 2019 National Affordable Housing Management Association (NAHMA) Affordable 100 List, as well as a 2017 and 2018 Top Place to Work by the Boston Globe and 2018 and 2019 Glassdoor Best Place to Work (most recently ranked #10). Learn more at http://www.peabodyproperties.com or on LinkedIn,Facebook,Instagram,Twitter, or YouTube.