Our 2015 Installation of Officers Luncheon was a terrific event with special guests, new ideas, heartfelt “thank you”s, and a little bit of fun! Thank you to all who attended and helped welcome our 2015 Boards of Directors!
We kicked off the day with Mark McIlquham, 2014 REALTOR Board President, who gave a wrap-up speech of his Presidency and recognized our many volunteers, without whom the Board could not succeed.
Certificates for Leadership were presented by Mark including a plaque to Karen Climo thanking her for her leadership of the 2014 MLS Board.
We were thrilled to welcome Corinne Fitzgerald, 2015 MAR President, who conducted our Installation of Officers and who presented a plaque to our outgoing Board President, Mark McIlquham. Thank you Mark!
Installation of Officers – Our 2015 Board of Directors, MLS Board of Directors, and 2015 State Directors were given the oath of office by Corinne Fitzgerald. View the full Boards here.
Corinne gave the oath of office to our 2015 REALTOR Board President, Steven Ray. The gavel was passed from Mark to Steve. Congrats Steve!
Steve Ray, our 2015 REALTORS President, gave his acceptance speech and Mark gave a few gifts to Steve to help him tackle the Presidency!
Past Presidents gave some excellent advice to our incoming President, and passed the gavel and their wisdom along to Steve!
Mary Jane White, 2015 MLS President, gave her acceptance speech. She covered the following topics: keeping the Local MLS; iPhone and Android Apps; our renewed contract with iBerkshire and the Berkshire Eagle; direct listing feed negotiations with Zillow and Trulia, MLS changes to IDX feeds, and her commitment to do outreach.
Corinne Fitzgerald, 2015 MAR President, informed and enlightened us about the benefits of being a Massachusetts Association of REALTORS member. Check out their website for updated information!
Steve Ray pulled our first ever “Did You Read your Friday Recap? Drawing”. Paul Harsch and Jonathan Hankin were the winners of $25 gas cards! We’ll do one drawing per month for the remainder of the year – stay tuned to all your Friday recaps!
Steve acknowledged the hard work accomplished by the 2014 Boards of Directors and thanked his incoming leadership for their dedication to the the Berkshire Board. He introduced Committee Chairs: Charley Sawyer, Contracts & Forms; Kathy Hazelett, DR Training Taskforce; Stephen Schoenfeld and Tiffany Roberts, Finance Committee; Patrice Melluzzo, Grievance Committee; Sherry Street, Professional Standards Committee and Paula McLean, REACT.
Steve provided an overview of the 2015-2017 Strategic Plan and the six areas the Board will focus on, as driven by input received from the membership:
- Consumer Outreach
- Public Advocacy
- Membership Services
- Brokerage Support
- Technology / MLS
- Strong Governance
Steve asked that all in attendance submit their charitable work and asked for nominations of local charitable organizations that can benefit from the good works done by REACT. REACT will review this information at their first meeting in 2015. As he said, “As learned from member feedback, there is a need to put our best foot forward and show positive images and examples of our members, our industry and our community.” Along those lines, and in conjunction with REACT, a PR Workgroup will be formed this year.
Thanks to the generosity of our awesome affiliate members, we were able to offer raffle prizes throughout the Installation event to some very lucky winners.
Thank you to:
Platinum Sponsors: Academy Mortgage, Berkshire Bank, Lee Bank; Advertising Affiliates: Greylock Insurance Agency, Mountain One Bank and Affiliate: Colt Insurance
Congratulations to Paul Harsch, lucky recipient of the $525 2015 Membership Raffle!
See more photos here: 2015 Installation of Officers Photo Gallery!
Thank you to Tricia McCormack Photography for photographing the event! www.triciamccormack.com
Tricia McCormack Photography offers professional head shots in Berkshire County. Professionals that work with the public as you do, need to keep their head shots updated and polished.. If you would like to take a look at some of the work done for corporations like Google, Monster.com as well as other Berkshire County professionals please click here.
Tricia McCormack Photography offers three levels of portfolio portraits, described on her website.
All rates include ownership of the digital image(s) you choose plus retouching. Special rates available for head shots delivered to 4 or more individuals from the same company. Tricia will set up the shoot at your location.
Please contact Tricia by filling out the form here.