Dear SAR REALTOR®and Affiliate Members,
I am proud to let you all know that at our most recent SAR Board of Directors meeting in August, the board approved some significant modifications to the qualifying criteria to serve on the SAR Board of Directors in the future. In the spirit of “Building Our Bench” (my theme for the year), two of my main priorities for 2022 have been (1) to foster an environment to engage members and develop new leaders within our association, as well as (2) to further initiatives to improve diversity, equity and inclusion.
With those objectives in mind, early this year, we appointed a “Working Group” to take a deep dive into SAR policies that define who qualifies to serve on the Board of Directors, and to examine if the current make-up of the members of our Board of Directors adequately serves the needs of our membership. Here are the members who worked on this task:
- Linda Wood, Dunnigan REALTORS (Chair)
- Barbara Lebrecht, Galster Group Real Estate (Vice Chair)
- Steve Kroes, Keller Williams Realty
- Luis Sumpter, Better Homes & Gardens
- MayMay Huang, Guide Real Estate
- Esthela Duran, RE/Max
- Alex McIvor, Dunnigan REALTORS
- Stephen T. Webb, Keller Williams Realty
- Juan Lashley, Prime Lending
Specifically we asked the Working Group to examine the following…
Regarding qualifying criteria to serve on the Board of Directors:
-Does the current qualifying criteria allow for adequate inclusivity, diverse voices, and varied perspectives amongst our membership?
Regarding the composition of the Board of Directors:
-Does the current SAR Board of Directors composition best represent the needs of our membership?
The Working Group met several times over the first half of the year. They researched the qualifying criteria and board composition of other REALTOR associations throughout California. They interviewed members of other associations to see what they felt worked and what didn’t. They considered a wide spectrum of possibilities — everything from making no changes, to some changes, to making very substantial changes.
For the qualifying criteria, the Working Group recommended (and the Board of Directors adopted) the following modifications, all which greatly expand the eligibility and pool of qualified applicants who may serve as your elected leaders:
“To be qualified to be nominated to serve as an Elected Director, such person shall have been a REALTOR® Member of the SAR (excluding a Senior Member not actively engaged in the real estate industry) for not less than one (1) year; and shall have served in one of the following capacities within the last five (5) years: (a reduction the requirement for length of SAR membership from two years to one year — this will enable members who may have been members of other REALTOR associations who then join SAR)
- As chair of at least one SAR or C.A.R. committee, task force, forum, special committee or a Trust or Foundation of the Association for at least one (1) year; or (added service as a C.A.R. committee chair as a qualifier — again would create eligibility to those who may have transferred to Sacramento from other associations)
- As an elected or appointed leader of the SAR Masters Club, Women’s Council of REALTORS® chapter, or other real estate professional organization for at least one (1) year; or (this adds service as an elected or appointed leader in a sibling organization as a qualifier — AREAA, Realtists, NHORA, etc — which will greatly expand who qualifies to serve on SAR’s board)
- As a C.A.R. or MetroList Director for at least one (1) year; or (adds service as a Metrolist Director, and reduces the length of service in this category from 2 years to 1 year — this widens the pool as well)
- On at least one committee, task force, Trust or Foundation of SAR, C.A.R., NAR, or MetroList for at least two (2) of the past five (5) years; or (adds service on a C.A.R., NAR and Metrolist Committees as qualifiers, and reduces the length of participation requirement from 3 years to 2 years)
- As an officer, manager, or broker of a real estate office, with not less than 90% of associates being REALTORS®, for at least two (2) years; or (a reduction of 3 years to 2 years — allows for more broker and manager eligibility to serve)
- To have successfully completed the SAR Leadership Academy.” (a completely new addition to eligibility, as SAR has dozens of amazing recent graduates of this program who will now be qualified to serve)
Ultimately, they recommended that our current board composition remain the same, with no changes. Our current, unchanged board composition remains:
- 19 total seats
- 4 Officers: President, President-Elect, Secretary/Treasurer, Immediate Past President — all 1-year terms
- 3 Appointed Directors (Affiliate Chair, Commercial Council Chair, Metrolist Liaison) — all 1-year terms
- 12 Elected Directors (all “at large” serving the entire membership) — all staggered 2-year terms
I want to sincerely thank the members of the Working Group for all of their hard work. I am optimistic that in future SAR Officer and Director elections, we will have more candidate choices with varied experience and perspective for our members to choose from to represent their interests. And it is so important that in the future we revisit our policies more frequently — our association and our members’ needs evolve over time, and SAR should evolve with them. I sincerely hope that our future leadership considers these to be living documents and not something we set on a shelf.
If you would like to brush up on SAR’s bylaws, policies, and procedures, you can find them in the Members Section of the website, once you log-in.
Cheers,
2022 SAR President
916.342.1372 Call or Text
erin@erinstumpf.com
