by Michele Newbern Gillis
Staff Writer
Russell Grooms of Watson Realty’s Ortega office was elected president-elect of the Florida Association of REALTORS during the FAR Convention and Trade Expo in Orlando last month.
“I’m excited and thrilled,” said Grooms. “The election process was long and I was running against two very qualified 30-year members, Frank Kowalski from Miami and Tony Macaluso from Palm Beach Gardens. But, it appears I had broad-based support from all across the state.”
All 68 REALTOR associations make recommendations and the nominating committees nominate from those recommendations.
“I had recommendations from all over the state,” said Grooms, currently treasurer of the association. “I will now just continue up the ladder and take office as president-elect in January 2003 and will be president effective January 2004.”
The other officers elected were Tom Salomone of Broward County as 2003 president, Brent Riley of Gainesville, 2003 District One vice president; Mike Dooley of Hobe Sound, treasurer; and Nancy Riley of St. Petersburg, vice president-secretary.
“We (the FAR) are the largest trade association in Florida and second largest REALTOR association in the nation after California,” said Grooms. “We have 86,000 members and we expect to reach 90,000 members by the end of the year.”
Grooms said with the FAR headquarters in Orlando that has a large staff to handle the day to day activities and with the help of association executive Jerry Matthews and his staff, he won’t have to handle the whole job alone.
“I’ll also have a president-elect, treasurer, vice president-secretary and 13 district vice presidents and 68 association presidents around the state to work with me,” he said. “I will just be at top of the pyramid. Basically I’ll be the spokesperson for all the REALTORS in Florida on issues, policies and legislation.”
What will he do in the upcoming year as president-elect?
“I will be there to support Tom Salomone as president,” said Grooms. “We have been a real close knit team this year. Moe Veissi (2002 FAR president) has included us in all of his decisions and next year I will continue to be a part of the team.”
Grooms estimates that next year he will probably travel 50-60 days and twice that the following year while visiting the local associations, Tallahassee and Orlando.
Grooms was elected at the end of the five-day FAR Convention.
The event included five days of committee meetings and luncheons for all the real estate societies and councils. There was also a Super Sales Day where attendees could attend training seminars and hear national speakers.
“The convention ends on Sunday with a board of directors who are local delegates who decide our policies, approve our budget and elect our officers,” said Grooms. “We probably had 30-50 local members attend all or a portion of the convention.”
About 2,500 REALTORS from all over the state attended the event and over 125 industry vendors participated in the Trade Expo to demonstrate their latest products for the real estate industry.
“It was very successful,” said Marla Martin, communications manager of FAR. “Our leadership was pleased and there was a lot of participation in the educational seminars. There were business meetings and they went well too.”
Grooms said he is very proud to represent Jacksonville in the State association.
“We seem to get a president about every ten years and I am fortunate to have been elected,” he said. “The biggest thing we will be doing in the next 60 days is to get the word out for people to vote ‘No’ on Amendment 5 on the ballot, which is the sales tax on services. I will also be focused on the rewrite of chapter 475 to make it current.”