Facilitators:
John E. Featherston is president and chief executive officer of RISMedia, Inc., and chairman and co-founder of RISMedia’s Top 5 in Real Estate Network® and RISMedia’s Real Estate Information Network®. RISMedia, the leader in real estate information systems, has been providing the industry with news, trends and business development strategies for 30 years through its flagship publication, Real Estate magazine, its leading website, RISMedia.com, and its renowned networking and educational events.
Allan Dalton is the chief marketing officer of RISMedia and Co-founder and President of RISMedia’s Top 5 in Real Estate Network®. Dalton is the former president of Move’s Real Estate Division, and served as CEO of Realtor.com. Dalton has 30 years of leadership experience, including being the former president and co-owner for more than 20 years of a 32-office real estate brokerage firm. Recognized as a pioneer in creating innovative and effective marketing systems for real estate professionals and companies, Dalton co-created Century 21’s Customized Marketing System as well as ERA’s Value Added Marketing System and Value Added Career Development Book.
Panelists:
Todd Hetherington is the chief executive officer of NM Management, Inc., the parent company of all of NM’s real estate service companies including CENTURY 21 New Millennium, 1st County Mortgage Services, Bay County Title and Escrow, Proactive Property Management, and NM Insurance. Hetherington began his real estate career in 1988 as an agent and earned the NVAR Life Member, Top Producer and NVAR Life Member, Million Dollar Sales Club awards and has owned his own real estate company since 1991. In 1998, he merged his company with another local CENTURY 21 broker forming CENTURY 21 New Millennium.
Peter F. Hunt is chairman and CEO of Hunt Real Estate Corporation. Under his leadership, Hunt Real Estate Corporation’s sales volume has risen to over $1.5 Billion. Since 1984, Hunt has founded Devere Mortgage Corporation, a licensed mortgage banking firm, Hunt-Vanner Agency, a general insurance agency, Realty Express, a fee-for-service real estate brokerage (operating in New York and Florida), The Realty Club, a membership organization supplying homeownership services, Fisher Homes, a fine homes builder, and Hunt Technology Solutions, Inc. (with his son, Charles and Joel Beasley). The Corporation joined the ERA system in March, 2002, now operating 31 residential sales offices as Hunt Real Estate ERA in Buffalo/Niagara, Rochester, Syracuse, Watertown, Saratoga and Phoenix, and three commercial offices in New York State.
Seth Kaplan is the managing director and president of Mobile Real Estate. In his position, he manages all the day-to-day operations of the company. He launched Mobile Real Estate with John Lim, CEO of Mobile Card Cast, in April 2008. Prior to Mobile Real Estate, Kaplan worked as a financial specialist for Wachovia and in financial services with the Guardian and National Financial Network at their Wall Street headquarters.
Ed Krafchow is chairman of the board of Better Homes and Gardens Mason-McDuffie Real Estate. The company has seen remarkable growth since 1991 when he took over leadership. In 1991, the company’s 21 offices housed 565 agents and closed less than $1 billion in sales annually. Since then, the company has grown to over $3 billion in annual sales, with more than 1,900 agents and 36 offices. Krafchow is a frequent national speaker on several industry-related topics, and has been identified by the California Association of Realtors as one of California’s top brokers and recognized as a technological leader by the Employee Relocation Council.
Rei L. Mesa is the president of Florida Real Estate Services and president and CEO of Prudential Florida Realty, a firm with approximately 1,800 real estate professionals servicing 17 counties throughout Florida. Since its inception in 1999, the company has quickly become the second-largest residential real estate brokerage in Florida and is ranked the 33rd-largest residential real estate firm in the nation based on sales volume. Mesa was recently recognized as Prudential Real Estate Affiliates (PREA) 2008 Broker of the Year at the national PREA Sales Convention in March 2009 for his exemplary leadership and service to the real estate industry, and his commitment to community and charity organizations.
Bill Plattos is the general manager and executive vice president of First Team Real Estate, a company he joined in 1979 as an ambitious agent. With 30 years of industry experience, he has played an integral role in helping the company reach the #9 brokerage nationwide for overall sales volume, a ranking celebrated in the 2009 Power Broker Report. Plattos is also a member of The Real Estate Services Advisory Board, a 25-person panel comprised of representatives from the largest brokers in the country that has in the past with Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke. A strong advocate for industry policy changes and evolving innovation, Plattos’ expertise is frequently referenced by respected print, online and broadcast media.
Greg Rand is an authority in the real estate market and the current CEO of OwnAmerica.com, a community of real estate enthusiasts and entrepreneurs who refuse to allow an economic crisis to keep them from realizing their potential. Rand is the former managing partner at Better Homes and Gardens Rand Realty, a regular Fox TV news contributor, host of Rand on Real Estate on 77 WABC Radio, popular media commentator and author of the forthcoming book, Crash Boom.
Dick Schlott is currently the chairman and CEO of Gloria Nilson Real Living, Realtors, and RLS Realtors. With over 40 years in the real estate business, Schlott is a well-known and highly regarded professional in the industry. He founded Schlott Realtors in 1971, and grew it to 140 offices and 4,500 salespeople across five states, with over $7 billion in sales. Schlott also developed the Home Mortgage Network, before selling Schlott Realtors to Coldwell Banker in the early 1990s. Schlott then ran the ERA Franchise system, until its sale to Cendant in the mid 1990s. He then moved on to develop GMAC Home Services, and served as president and CEO from the late 1990s through early 2001. During this time, one of the purchases he made for the company was that of Gloria Nilson Realtors.