by Michele Gillis, Staff Writer
Hockey brought Mick Dolan to Jacksonville and the marketing representative for Mason Title carries that sport’s team culture into his business.
You’d be hard pressed to attend a social, business or philanthropic Northeast Florida Association of Realtors or Women’s Council of Realtors event and not see him there mingling with the guests, helping build a ramp, fishing in a fishing tournament, attending a luncheon or playing golf with the Realtors.
Dolan was named NEFAR Affiliate of the Year award at January’s annual meeting.
“It is still a big surprise,” said Dolan. “It was very unexpected. I was there because it was the graduation for the NEFAR Leadership Academy and we were to be recognized for finishing the year-long course.
“Glenn East started the presentation of the Affiliate of the Year award and, about a minute into his speech, my heart kind of fluttered because his description kind of sounded like me. I was shocked and had no idea it was coming. I was very humbled and it was a great surprise.”
Dolan is heavily involved in all the branches of NEFAR and Jacksonville WCR. He enjoys being a part of the real estate community and though he may want your business, he also wants to be involved and help others out.
“I try to be there and support the events, whether it’s getting my company to sponsor or just being in attendance and helping out,” said Dolan. “Fortunately, it is considered a part of my job. It’s actually very enjoyable. I enjoy the people and I consider them my extended family. I like being out and engaging the real estate agents and loan officers and seeing how they are doing.”
Dolan has worked at Mason Title for seven months; before that, he was the area manager for First American Home Warranty Corp. for almost three years.
“Part of working with First American is that you build relationships with Realtors, loan officers and title companies,” said Dolan. “So, I built a strong relationship with the manager at Mason Title and we used to participate in New Home Buyers seminar together.”
Mason Title decided to grow their business and hired Dolan as the marketing representative.
He is also a 2012 NEFAR Leadership Academy graduate.
“The NEFAR Leadership Academy is a great way to educate yourself in real estate,” said Dolan. “There were many educational sessions and I believe you can continue to learn every day. I got to learn internally what NEFAR is all about, how it works and the projects going on to make real estate better in Northeast Florida. It was also nice to get to know some amazing people within NEFAR better.”
Dolan, born and raised in Michigan, has a bachelor’s degree in computer information systems and a master’s degree in information systems management from Ferris State University.
He worked in the information technology field in Michigan for a while, but decided to try something new and get into the mortgage business with Citizens Financial Co. of America in Naples.
“It was a good and lucrative move, so I packed up everything I knew and drove down to Florida,” he said.
A little known fact about Dolan is that he loves to play ice hockey. He played in high school and college and even played professionally with a minor league team. He still plays with friends for fun once a week.
He moved to Jacksonville in 2007 to coach ice hockey as a certified instructor with Hockey International.
“There was a select group of 14-year-old kids and we coached them at a rink in Fort Myers,” he said. “It just fell into place, where they needed another coach for this group of boys and we coached them for a year based out of Fort Myers. They were spread out over the entire state and would travel to Fort Myers on the weekends.”
They eventually moved the training to Jacksonville so they could practice during the week and have games on the weekends. Eventually, the kids aged out of training program, so Dolan decided to re-enter the real estate field by joining First American.
“Through a hockey relationship, someone knew the regional manager for First American and suggested I would be a good candidate for the job,” he said.
But he hasn’t quit playing big-time hockey.
“I went to St Petersburg, Russia, this past December for the Arctic Cup playing with Team Canada. The other countries involved were USA, Russia, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Iceland and Norway.”