by Michele Newborn Gillis
Staff Writer
The Jacksonville Women’s Council of Realtors has a new president – Bob Sawyer, the team leader/broker of Keller Williams Realty in Mandarin.
Yes, you read it right:
Bob. A man.
Some may think it strange that a man is president of a women’s organization, but not Sawyer.
He’s done it before.
Sawyer was the 1997 and 1998 president of the now defunct Clay County Women’s Council of Realtors and a past district vice president for the state WCR.
“It’s not a women’s organization,” said Sawyer, a broker with the Keller Williams office in Mandarin. “The Women’s Council of Realtors was set up in 1938. It was actually started before that.
The organization” was created to give women realtors of that era equal access to education and contacts. Women weren’t allowed to join the board of the National Association of Realtors, a valuable educational and networking resource.
The idea to start the Council originated with four dissatisfied woman brokers leaving the NAR’s national convention. They felt they were being shortchanged because of their gender.
The WCR was their solution. They gained accreditation from the NAR and became that organization’s newest educational arm. Stung by their earlier exclusion, the founders wanted to run the WCR as an equal opportunity organization. They kept membership open to both sexes.
Still, a lot of men stayed away because of the name. Over the years, the WCR has contemplated a name change to boost enrollment. It’s an idea that Sawyer disregards.
“If you change the name, all the history from 1938 on is gone,” he said. “No one would know who you are and everything would have to change.
“It’s just not worth it. If men don’t see the value of the organization, then that’s their problem.”
The strength of the WCR lies in numbers. With more than 15,000 members, it’s one of the largest professional networking organizations in the country.
“If I had to refer someone, and I can’t find a Keller Williams office, I look in the WCR directory,” said Sawyer. “Nine times out of 10 there is a member there somewhere.”
The organization also continues its training tradition. When several chapters across the country struggled to stay afloat due to a lack of properly trained leadership, the organization responded with leadership training. Every president-elect finishes the school before they take office.
The three-day school is paid for by the WCR. Upon graduation, every president-elect understands the demands of leadership and their expected duties.
Sawyer agreed to fill the top job in the local chapter because of his respect for the organization. The Jacksonville chapter should be strengthened by the addition of several members from Clay County, he said.
Sawyer sees fundraising as his primary responsibility. The WCR holds several fundraisers throughout the year to pay travel expenses for the group’s officers and to sustain the group’s commitments to several local charities.
Sawyer also hopes to increase membership by 20 percent and bring better speakers to meetings. He’d like to see the group make better use of technology to improve networking.
“We always seem to have a problem keeping in touch with everybody and getting out there and telling 5,000 real estate agents what the WCR is all about,” he said. “Most realtors don’t know. With today’s technology, we should be able to reach out to all those people.”
Sawyer learned the importance of communication through a career largely focused on office management. A series of medical setbacks convinced him he needed a new career path and a new location.
“I was engineering manager with Michigan Bell for 18 years. I had three heart attacks and decided that probably wasn’t the place to be anymore.”
He moved to Jacksonville in 1988 and joined Watson Realty, where he worked for five years. He left real estate for a year to publish a Clay County newspaper.
Sawyer returned to manage a Century 21 office and a pair of Realty Executive offices before joining Keller Williams where he has remained for over two years.
His work at Keller Williams had prepared him to take over the WCR, he said.
“At Keller Williams, the team leader is responsible for recruiting, training and retaining agents,” he said. “We train five days a week to give people the tools to operate with.”
Coming from a corporate background, Sawyer found real estate lacked the professional structure he was used to. He created a business plan that became the foundation for his training at Keller Williams. Sawyer said he’ll bring the training with him to the WCR.
Sawyer lives in Fleming Island with his wife Cathy, an administrative assistant for the minister at Unity Church. They’ve been married for 35 years. When he’s not working, Sawyer enjoys reading and playing golf.