New Heights Planned For Your Business Success With Help From US

It is a great privilege for me to write this first column as your 2014 Chairman of the Board. I would like to share some thoughts from my Installation Ceremony remarks this past December.

I believe that America still is the land of opportunities where you can realize your dreams. And NVAR can help all of us to do that by supporting our professional goals.

At first I was reluctant to get involved as an association volunteer, but former Chairman Luis Lama gave me the courage to raise my hand and say, “I want to be an NVAR leader.”

I remember the day that Mr. Lama called me and invited me to lunch. At that lunch he shared his vision of bringing our diverse NVAR Realtor® membership together. He wanted all members, regardless of their real estate specialty, cultural background, or years in the business, to be involved and be respected at NVAR.

Mr. Lama said to me, “Mario, you are going to be the first chairman for NVAR’s Hispanic Forum.” 

And I was! And the rest is history. With our long list of cultural and business specialty forums available for our members, his vision for NVAR still is alive today.  

Today we have members from all over the world enjoying their participation in our great association. We see this in our Forums such as Hispanic, Korean, Vietnamese, Global, Commercial, Attorney Round Table and YPN – and there are even more available now. This year we’ll have two new Forums: the Professional Standards Forum and the Business to Business Forum. These new forums will help Realtors® achieve success in their business and better understand the value that our Realtor® Code of Ethics brings to their businesses. 

Like the chairmen before me, I promise to continue to add to the high level of services that NVAR members expect from their Board of Directors.

My slogan this year is, “NVAR Helps Improve Your Bottom Line!” I have asked the incoming chairs of our committees and forums to remember that our main purpose as an association is to help our members get ahead in their businesses. Whether it is passing laws that will make it easier for us to do business, protecting the public from unethical business practices, introducing new technologies that will help us to be more efficient, or providing the best educational opportunities – that is our underlying goal.

I have an incredible Board of Directors to work with this year. They are experienced, diverse and, like me, passionate about their work. We will work together on your behalf to ensure a thriving Northern Virginia real estate environment in 2014. 
Thank you very much for the chance to serve as the Chairman of the Board of this great association.