2013 Board of Directors
Board of Directors
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Ruthanne Belus, ABR, SRES, President
Lee Borellis, ABR, RRS, SRES
R. Kevin Brown, Jr.
Anthony J. Cimino
Ronald F. Croushore, CRB
Paul F. Culley, ABR, CRB, CRS, GREEN, GRI
David A. Dean
Robina "Bebe" English
Robert P. Freeman, President-Elect
Joanne M. Giancola
Suzanne Gruneberg, ABR, CRS , GREEN, GRI, SRES
Charlene Haislip, GREEN
Mark E. Handlovitch, ABR, ASP, CRS, GRI
Susan M. Lesczynski
Shirley Boyd McNamara, CRB, GRI
Robert G. Moncavage, ABR, GRI, e-PRO
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W. Preston Moore
Dolores Nicely, ABR, CRS
Carol C. Palomera, CRB, GRI, SRES
J. Reed Pirain, ABR, GREEN
Dale W. Polanosky
Mark R. Ratii, Jr., CRS, GRI
John N. Rettger, CRS
Staci L. Rullo, ABR, CRS, e-PRO, SRES
William A. Russo, ABR, CRS, RRS
James G. Saxon
Elizabeth J. Sosinski, e-PRO
Jerry Y. Speer, CPM
Alice M. Vaday
Erik C. Wagner
Cathryn G. Winghart, CNE, CRB
Betsy Wotherspoon
Ann M. Zajac, ABR, CRS
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2013 President's Message
REThink- The Future of Real Estate
This time of the year is very busy for all of us and I welcome you today and appreciate your attendance and time away from your busy schedules. I also extend to you a very happy and prosperous new year! Following in the footsteps of over 100 years history of our association, I am indeed humbled and honored to be serving as your president of the REALTORS® Association of Metropolitan Pittsburgh in this 102nd year.
The year 2012 brought us two new employees, one a very familiar face and the other brand new. R. Dennis McClelland, CAE,RCE,CMP,ePro was welcomed back to serving as our Executive Vice President and most recently completed his first full year serving in that capacity. He brought with him a wealth of experience to aid our association. In late 2012 we were privileged to hire political veteran Ryan Barton as our new government affairs director. He comes to us with a winning record in all areas of the political arena.
In May, RAMP took a bus load of our members to participate with 15,000 other REALTORS® across the United States as we stood shoulder to shoulder in front of the Washington Monument making our voices heard on behalf of home ownership and private property rights. Your leadership team continues to attend state and national meetings to bring back information to help you stay on top of the industry, help you with your business and gain an edge in all real estate matters.
Our goal at RAMP is to encourage dialogue and to open our minds about thinking big for our future. And that is why I have chosen "Rethink- The Future of Real Estate" as a theme for 2013. We are in this together and we need to plan for what could come. To create change, we need to leverage our resources and one of our largest resources is you our members. We welcome your participation and hope that you will share your thoughts and ideas and "Rethink: the Future of Real Estate." I am confident we can set new goals and carefully plan our futures together.
At RAMP we are busy looking at ideas to "expand our territories" by sharing services with surrounding associations- both with educational classes and professional standards hearings. Educational director, Mary Lynne Deets has an array of courses planned at REI for the upcoming year including even an offsite class taking us on a cruise to complete MCE (pending state certification). We are now seeing the light at the end of a long tunnel as home sales are recovering and the market is improving on its own, thanks to the slowly improving economy. In the Pittsburgh areas we have seen improved consumer confidence as home prices strengthen and growth in the number of new households increases. It seems we are heading in the right direction!
I am extremely happy to serve as your president this year and would like to end with this quote by Henry Ford- "Coming together is a beginning, keeping together is progress, working together is success." Join with us as we make 2013 one of the best years ever!
Yours in the REALTOR® spirit,
Ruthanne Belus, ABR, SRES
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