The LGBTQ+ Real Estate Alliance has announced its newly elected officers for the 2022 term, effective Jan. 3. Anita Blue has been elected by the Chapter Delegate Board and will serve as national vice president.
Blue is an agent and Credit Restoration Consultant at Cap Tex Realty located in Houston, Texas. She also led the organization’s Houston chapter in its inaugural year as well as a serving as a member of The Alliance’s Diversity Equity and Inclusion Council. The 35-year Air Force veteran has been working in the real estate industry for seven years and assists families in the home-buying, financial literacy and credit restoration processes. Alex Cruz, an agent with Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Professional Realty in Cleveland, Ohio, will continue to serve as national vice president until Blue’s tenure begins. He will assume a staff role on Jan. 3 as Director of Education and Member Services.
Additionally, Tommie Wehrle will serve as national secretary and Rodney Mason as national treasurer. They join Dave Gervase who was previously elected as president for 2022.
Wehrle, an agent with Coldwell Banker Realty in Milford, Connecticut, is co-chair of Real Pride, Realogy’s Employee Resource Group (ERG). Prior to joining Coldwell Banker in 2013, Wehrle spent 16 years as the founder of RE/MAX Results. She has advocated locally, regionally and nationally on behalf of the LGBTQ+ community for nearly 30 years. She will succeed Patrick Ruble, a branch manager with Coldwell Banker Realty.
Mason has been in the mortgage industry since 2001 and currently serves as vice president of Mortgage Lending with Guaranteed Rate in Atlanta, Georgia. Mason is also a member of the Mortgage Bankers Association of Georgia, Atlanta REALTORS® Association, the Asian Real Estate Association of America (AREAA) and the National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals (NAHREP). He has also worked on the Associations Collaborating Together (ACT) Council with the Georgia Association of REALTORS® since 2019. Scott Armstrong, a Partner at Consumer Title and Escrow in the Tampa Bay area in Florida, is the current treasurer.
The Alliance also announced that Erin Morrison has been elected president for 2023 while inaugural President John Thorpe, who was appointed the role of Chairman Emeritus of the Board of Directors, will serve as immediate past president.
Morrison is an agent with Teifke Real Estate in Round Rock, Texas. She joined the real estate industry after spending more than a dozen years in the oil and gas industry focused on leasing and land contracts. She sits on the Diversity Council of the Austin Board of REALTORS® and is a 2020 graduate of Texas REALTORS® Leadership Program. She currently serves as President of The Alliance’s Austin chapter.
The LGBTQ+ Real Estate Alliance, which opened for membership on Oct. 1, 2020, currently has more than 1,700 members and is focused on increasing the LGBTQ+ homeownership rate, which currently stands at 49.8%, according to UCLA’s Williams Institute. This number is far below the 65.4% overall rate, reported by the U.S. Census.
The Alliance is also focused on eliminating housing discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, along with assisting members in their business needs.
“The Alliance has grown so quickly and been so well received by the LGBTQ+ community, our partners, members, local and regional REALTOR® associations, along with the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) and the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR),” Gervase said in a statement. “I believe our success is directly tied to the people who are leading the organization and have a passion for helping others. I’m looking forward to working alongside Anita, Tommie, Rodney and our Board to help grow The Alliance even further and continue to address our member needs and the housing needs of the LGBTQ+ community. Our community has made great strides, but we want to see a steady increase in LGBTQ+ homeownership rates and rid our neighborhoods of all housing discrimination.”
For more information, please visit realestatealliance.org.
