Our mission at NVAR is to promote professionalism through education, tools and resources that help elevate your business, and to ensure that Realtor® ethics and property rights are protected. The classes, programs, and services that we provide are designed to reinforce competency and foster a culture of professionalism among Northern Virginia Realtors®.

Not only do we encourage and advance professionalism for you, our members, but we do so for ourselves, too, so that NVAR can consistently provide top-notch membership services.

One of our internal core values is “the consistent pursuit of excellence,” and one way we try to accomplish that is by supporting professional development opportunities for our staff. Whether taking classes to improve specific skills, or attending a conference to learn with and from colleagues in other associations, the end-game is to help all of us – staff and members – do our jobs better.

I’m proud that many of our staff members hold advanced degrees, certifications and designations. Among the recent significant staff achievements and milestones are:

•    Vika Mitchell, Frank Doyle, Brenda Heffernan and I earned the Certified International Property Specialist (CIPS) designation

•    Jill Landsman earned a Master’s Degree from Realtor® University

•    Three of our four attorneys on staff (Sarah Louppe Petcher, Nisha Thakker and Brenda Heffernan) are barred in three jurisdictions (VA, MD, DC)

•    Frank Doyle earned the Society for Human Resource Management Senior Certified Professional (SHRM-SCP) designation

•    12 staff members were inducted into the Omega Tau Rho fraternity, marking 10 years of dedicated service to the real estate industry, with four more to be inducted in 2017. Check out the full list on page 35.

•    Dozens of “spot” awards issued to those going above and beyond the call of duty. Check out a snapshot of a few of them on page 35.

Working together – both NVAR staff and members – we can achieve excellence for ourselves, our association and our industry.