Greetings, Texas REALTORS®!
This magazine hasn’t enough pages to thank you all one by one, but please know every call, message, card, email, lesson, critique, pep talk, and token will be cherished and remembered forever.
Congratulations to Marvin Jolly, who is taking the reins as the chairman of Texas REALTORS®! By now you know how excited I am for the opportunity to serve on his 2021 Leadership Team. I hope you and yours have begun a peaceful and reflective holiday season. As leaders of our communities, we must continue to set healthy, responsible examples for how to serve others and conduct business during what we hope are the final few months of this pandemic. Please stay that course and continue to shine as you have all year.
For years, I have extolled the virtues of our team-oriented Texas REALTORS® system of governance. It is a brilliant model that ensures harmony between the members who set its course, the elected leadership who chart it, and the epic staff led by Travis Kessler who make it happen. Even so, the title of chairman brings with it an almost indescribable combination of visibility and personal responsibility. No doubt every past chairman can relate to the pressure of being the public face of our powerful, now century-old organization, especially during times of disruption. But for those who selflessly mentored, guided, and collaborated with me for years before and every single day during this year, it might have been overwhelming. This magazine hasn’t enough pages to thank you all one by one, but please know every call, message, card, email, lesson, critique, pep talk, and token will be cherished and remembered forever. Those with whom I have been privileged to serve since arriving on the Leadership Team in 2017 include Travis, NAR President-elect Leslie Rouda Smith, Vicki Fullerton, Kaki Lybbert, Tray Bates, and this year’s team of Marvin, Russell Berry, and Marcus Phipps. Their collective wisdom, kindness, and generosity kept us all accountable and focused on you, the members, at every turn. They made my service not just worthwhile but also fun, and each will be a friend for life.
May you all be abundantly blessed in the days and years ahead. I am profoundly and forever grateful for the privilege of serving as your 2020 chairman. Then, now, and always, #ShapingTexas!