On December 15th, I chaired my final Board of Directors meeting as President of the Sacramento Association of REALTORS®, and while it is a little bittersweet — I feel like this is more the beginning than the end. In 2022 our Board of Directors laid the foundation for some amazing things to come that I am so excited for.
Together in 2022, we:
- Amended the SAR Bylaws to change qualifying criteria to serve on the Board of Directors, making the criteria more broad and inclusive so that more diverse voices qualify to serve (thanks to Linda Wood and Barb Lebrecht who lead this working group);
- Restructured the Board of Directors so that the Chair of the Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Fair Housing Committee has a carved out seat on the board;
- Formalized/signed a “Memorandum of Understanding” between SAR and the Sacramento Chapters of Women’s Council of REALTORS (WCR), the Asian Real Estate Association of America (AREAA), the National Hispanic Organization of Real Estate Associates (NHORA), and the Sacramento Realtist Association (SRA) — all so that we can build the foundation to support each other and collaborate in mutual support of each others’ missions. HUGE thanks to the leaders of our sibling orgs for your collective efforts.
- 86% of our extended leadership team (all Chairs, Vice Chairs, and the Board of Directors) completed the Fair Housing Challenge. The Fair Housing Challenge consisted of taking the Fairhaven Simulation, watching the Bias Override video, and completing the At Home With Diversity certification. To the remaining 14% — you still have time before the end of the year!
- Renamed ‘Affiliate’ Members to be ‘Preferred Partners’ (shout out to Cam Villa, Cristi Rodda and staff member Erin Smith for your leadership here).
- Created a Preferred Partners Advisory Committee to focus on enhancing member value to our Preferred Partners; Added Preferred Partner member participants to two key SAR committees — the Nominating Committee and the Government Relations Committee
- Re-envisioned the Volunteer Coordinating Committee to be the Community Outreach Committee and shifted focus toward more civic/community/public affairs engagement and outreach
- Streamlined our Fundraising Events policies.
- Moved toward a “Master Calendar” and pre-planning of events for more strategic continuity, and improved allocated use of resources and time
- Conducted the first comprehensive member survey since 2016.
- And started but still underway: formed an Investment Strategies Task Force to review and possibly improve our financial and investment policies
- Also started but still underway: an overhaul of our Manual of Procedures including rewriting committee charters, structure, function, correcting inconsistencies, and improving committee selection procedures; AND…
- Did I mention we hired a new CEO, Jessica Coates? (Huge thanks to Kellie Swayne and Randall Hom for leading the Search Committee)
And this scratches the surface — as our committees did so many other wonderful things this year to benefit our members and the Sacramento Community. I can’t even begin to describe how grateful I am for all of our SAR volunteer leaders and our amazing staff who made the magic happen this year.
Thank you all so much for your trust in electing me to serve our association at the highest level. While my term as President is coming to its conclusion, my service to our profession is far from over.
Onward to 2023 under the leadership of Cherie Hunt, who will be amazing!
With gratitude,
Erin
