PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE
My End To Our Year
Those of us who are fortunate
enough to have been elected the
president of a REALTOR® association
like ORRA often write their last
magazine column starting off, “It’s hard to
believe that my year is coming to an end
already.”
I’m not going to do that. Partly because
I knew all along that this year was going
race by, and partly because I don’t like
to say this was “my” year. The projects
that I worked on this year were collaborations
with many, many others: REALTOR®
volunteers (committee and forum members,
chairs and vice chairs, the board of
directors, etc.) and an exceptional staff led
by new CEO Cliff Long.
Lots of our initiatives were started last
year or even in the years before that, and
many of them won’t come to an end on
January 1. I can promise you that our volunteers,
maybe in a slightly different group
makeup as they come and go, and our staff
will always stay focused on projects that
seek to better serve our 15,000 REALTOR®
members.
I’d like to offer a great big thank you to
all of those who volunteered their time
and effort with ORRA in the past year and
also to those who will be volunteering in
the coming year. If you have ever thought
about volunteering at ORRA, please do! It’s
not too late. The more you put in, the more
you get out.
I am grateful to have Jeff Fagan stepping
up as your 2019 president. Jeff brings a
very broad perspective to the table, as
he manages a large company with many
agents. Your election of Reese Stewart as
president-elect ensures several years of
continuity with leaders who are laser-focused
on member benefits. Congratulations
to the newly elected directors who
will soon be serving on the ORRA Board
of Directors alongside our continuing
directors. Thank you to those directors
who served out their terms and are now
stepping down.
I want to thank Cliff for bringing his
new perspective to our association. His
view is much more of a regional, external
focus than we have experienced. He has
done, and will continue to do, a great job
promoting the REALTOR® brand in our
community.
A big thank you goes to the ORRA’s 36
staff members. They are a group of professionals
who understand that members
are extremely busy, and they work hard to
educate, inform, serve, and advocate on
behalf of our members.
Lastly, I want to thank my wife, Lee, — a
REALTOR®, a CCIM, and a CPM — for her
tolerance of the meetings, the hours of
preparation, and the calls and e-mails I
tried to sneak in during vacation and family
time with her and our boys. The good news
for her is that all of this will soon finally
be over, and I will be spending more time
with her. The bad news for her is that all of
this will soon finally be over, and I will be
spending more time with her.
Best wishes for a great holiday and a
fantastic 2019!
Lou Nimkoff
4 Orlando REALTOR® November/December 2018