Each November, NAR celebrates Designation Awareness Month by highlighting the value that professional designations and certifications provide to the real estate industry. At the same time, REBAC acknowledges the achievements of its most accomplished members by inducting them into the REBAC Hall of Fame. These outstanding Accredited Buyer’s Representative (ABR®) and ABRMSM designees were inducted into the REBAC Hall of Fame during the REALTORS® Conference & Expo in Orlando this month.
Shannon Buss, a broker associate with Keller Williams® Realty, was appointed team leader of the Keller Williams Quincy, Mass., office in 2011. Buss was awarded her ABR® credential in 2006 and has also earned the Graduate, REALTOR® Institute (GRI), Performance Management Network (PMN) and NAR’s Green designations. She is a licensed broker in Massachusetts and Rhode Island, and has served as a director of the Newport County Board of REALTORS® and the Rhode Island Association of REALTORS®. She currently serves on the NAR Housing Opportunity Committee as well as on the National Executive Committee for the Women’s Council of REALTORS® (WCR).
Patricia Hirsch began her real estate career 20 years ago in Daytona Beach, Fla., and later returned to Georgia to help her husband own and manage radio stations and became licensed in Georgia. In 2000, she became a partner with ERA Landmark Realty, and in 2010 became the sole owner and managing broker. Hirsch has been honored in the ERA franchise system as one of the top-selling brokers in the nation and has repeatedly been inducted into the Leadership Circle, piloting her company into the President’s Circle year after year.
Candace K. Cooke is president and owner of Real Property Counselors Inc., a woman-owned real estate firm. In addition to listing and selling, her nearly 30 years of experience include real estate research and valuation, real estate development and property management. Since 2008, she has been teaching real estate courses, and is an approved provider for the Texas Real Estate Commission. She has numerous designations and certifications, including ABR®, Council of Real Estate Brokerage Managers (CRB), NAR’s Green designation, GRI and Senior’s Real Estate Specialist® (SRES®). She was recently accepted into the REALTOR® University Graduate School Program.
Debbie Rodgers began teaching California Department of Real Estate-approved courses in 1990 and is now a provider and instructor for the National Association of REALTORS® designation and certification courses. These designation courses include ABR®, SRES®, NAR’s Green Designation and CRB. Rodgers was named SRES® Hall of Fame instructor in 2007 and is a state director for the California Association of REALTORS®.
In addition to honoring these distinguished individuals, we are delighted to recognize:
The Suburban West REALTORS® Association, which was founded in 1921 and has been a consistent provider of professional real estate education in the Philadelphia area. In 1975, Suburban West REALTORS® established the Association of REALTORS® School (ARS), a fully accredited and approved education provider by the Pennsylvania Real Estate Commission. The School offers real estate courses to individuals interested in pursuing a real estate career and mandatory continuing education courses for those licensees with a Pennsylvania real estate salesperson’s/broker’s license and/or a Pennsylvania broker/appraiser certification, as well as designation courses.
Marc Gould is the executive director of The Real Estate Buyer’s Agent Council (REBAC). A wholly-owned subsidiary of the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR), The Real Estate Buyer’s Agent Council is the world’s largest association of real estate professionals focusing specifically on representing the real estate buyer. With more than 30,000 active members, REBAC awards the Accredited Buyer’s Representative (ABR®) designation to REALTORS® who work directly with buyer-clients.
To learn more, visit www.REBAC.net.
