The Staten Island Board of Realtors® has presented Michael R. Diaz and Linda Garber the 2005 SIBOR Realtor and Realtor Associate of the Year Awards. The presentations were made at the Annual Membership Meeting on Thursday, October 20, 2005 at the Vanderbilt, South Beach. The presentations were made by president Sari Kingsley, CIPS.
The SIBOR 2005 Annual Membership Meeting was attended by 135 Realtors and affiliates. The meeting is held annually following the elections for SIBOR directors and Staten Island Multiple Listing Service governors. The election was held on October 19th. John Vernazza, chair of the Election Committee, announced the election results. Serving two-year (2006-2007) director terms will be Realtors Frank DiTommaso, Scott Dobrin, Michael Dukhovney, Al Giordano, Kathleen O’Leary and George S. Wonica CBR, CRB, GRI, SRES. Mr. Giordano and Ms. O’Leary are returning for second terms and Mr. DiTommaso was a director some years ago. They will join the 2006 officers: president Mike Diaz; president elect Frank Reali; vice president Dawn Carpenter CPM; secretary/treasurer Christopher Stivanello; and immediate past president Sari Kingsley. They will also join returning directors, whose terms end in 2006: Tom Aiello; Linda Garber; Marg Holton; Linda Labetti; Neil Litvin; Betty Pappas SRES and John Vernazza. Because of a failure to attain a quorum of Realtor-associates at the election meeting, another election for a two-year Realtor-associate director position will be held at a time to be announced. Current director Robert Martino has been nominated for that position.
Retiring directors include: Diane Birrell; Linda Castelli; and Jon Salmon.
Past president George K. Wonica GRI, who will serve as the District 2 (New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania) Vice President of the National Association of Realtors and an officer of NAR, will, by virtue of those positions, also serve on the 2006 SIBOR Board of Directors.
Mr. Vernazza announced that the Staten Island Multiple Listing Serve participants (broker-owners or their representatives) had elected the following governors for 2006: Ira Kamil; Georgianna Diaz; Stephen Saletto, Jr; Christopher Stivanello; Craig Watkins; Joseph Runfola, Jr.; Dawn Carpenter; and Diane Birrell. They will join the 2006 designated governors; Charlotte DeLuca; Mimi Neuhaus; Neil Litvin; Wayne Goldstein; and Jim Athanasatos. The MLS Board of Governors will elect a chair who will also serve on the 2006 SIBOR Board of Directors.
The Realtor and Realtor-Associate honorees, the elected directors and the elected governors were selected by the Nominating Committee chaired by past president Doreen Frazer and included Tom Aiello, Linda Labetti, Charlotte DeLuca, Alex Papirov, John Vernazza and Josephine Vaccaro.
At the annual meeting, Albert Jurczynski, Acting Assistant Secretary of State for Licensing, NYS Department of State, and his Director of Licensing, Joseph Amello addressed the attendees. Mr. Jurczynski announced that beginning in 2006 the state will begin mandatory licensing of home inspectors. They will be required to complete 100 hours of approved classes, 40 hours of field training and pass a state test in order to be licensed. Those inspectors who have performed 100 inspections in the last two years can simply take an exam to obtain a license, while those have completed 250 or more in the last three years will not be required to sit for an exam.
Also in attendance were Julian Soler, Festival Director and Vince Lenza, Deputy Director of the Staten Island Economic Development Corporation (SIEDC) to discuss the 2006 Staten Island Film Festival scheduled for June 1-4. They discussed sponsorship opportunities and updated the membership on the progress that has been made thus far.
The Realtor and Realtor Associate of-the-Year awards are given to members for their service to the industry, the community and the Realtor family of associations.
2005 REALTOR of the Year, Michael R. Diaz became a full-time Realtor in 1973 and is co-owner of Coldwell Banker Village Realty with his wife, Georgianna. He has been a licensed Mortgage Broker since 1984. During his 35 year career, he has served the Staten Island real estate industry and the Staten Island Board of REALTORS in many ways. For 17 years Mike has been a member of the Board of Directors and has chaired the Rules, RPAC and Spring Dance Committees. He has served on the Board Operations, Budget, Bylaws, and Richmond County Real Estate Institute Committees. In 2006 he will be the SIBOR president, will chair the MLS Committee of the New York State Association of Realtors, and serve as a director of the National Association of Realtors. Mike is also an RPAC Platinum ($1,000) contributor.
Linda Garber, 2005 REALTOR Associate of the Year, joined SIBOR in 1980 and since then has been a strong leader and achiever in the real estate industry on Staten Island.
Linda has served on a multitude of SIBOR Committees including Board Certification, Marketing, Health Insurance, Professional Standards, Education and Installation Dinner. She also co-chaired the 1997 and 2000 SIBOR Picnics. She has also been an active participant in various charitable functions. Among her many accomplishments include the Century 21 Top International Centurion Designation and the Century 21 Career Track Professional Designation as a Residential Specialist. Her term as a SIBOR director runs through 2006.
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