Texas Association of REALTORS® installs officers, sets course for 2016

2016 Leadership Team brings more than a century of real estate experience

WASHINGTON, D.C. – September 24, 2015 – (RealEstateRama) — The Texas Association of REALTORS® installed its 2016 officers this month during the Texas REALTORS® Conference in Fort Worth. Set to take office on Jan. 1, 2016, these officers have more than a century of combined leadership experience, serving in the Texas real estate industry and their local communities. Incoming officers include Chairman Leslie Rouda Smith of Collin County, Chairman-Elect Vicki Fullerton of The Woodlands, Secretary/Treasurer Kaki Lybbert of Denton, and Immediate Past Chairman Scott Kesner of El Paso.

“As one of the most active real estate markets in the country, there is nowhere more exciting to work in real estate than Texas,” said incoming Chairman Smith. “We are setting the standard for what it means to protect property owners’ rights, helping consumers achieve their real estate goals, and equipping our growing membership with more tools and resources than ever.”

So far in 2015, the Texas Association of REALTORS® has achieved record-high rates of membership, surpassing 100,000 members, and spearheaded some of the most important public policy initiatives in its history. Those include tax relief measures for homeowners and support for transportation funding necessary to keep Texas a desirable place to live and do business, among other efforts.

Chairman Smith continued, “Population growth and demand for homes continues to be strong in Texas, and we must be ready to support these new homeowners. First and foremost, that means supporting statewide Proposition 1 in November, to increase the homestead exemption and ban a tax on real estate in Texas, as well as Proposition 7, to provide much needed funding for our transportation system. Long term, we must also ensure Texas REALTORS® are prepared to continue helping clients navigate the exciting, ever-changing world of Texas real estate.”

Incoming Chairman Leslie Rouda Smith is a broker associate with Dallas-based Dave Perry-Miller & Associates. She has more than 40 years of real estate experience and has served in numerous REALTOR® leadership positions. At the state level, Smith chaired the TAR Professional Development Committee in 2012 and served for four years as a Texas Association of REALTORS® Political Action Committee (TREPAC) trustee. Nationally, she was vice president of the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR) in 2013 and she currently serves on the NAR Finance Committee, the Board of Regents of REALTOR® University, and the national Advisory Council for REALTOR® Property Resource. She will serve as Region 10 (Texas and Louisiana) regional vice president for NAR in 2017. Locally, Smith is a past president of the Collin County Association of REALTORS® and has served in many other roles within the REALTOR® organization.

Incoming Chairman-Elect Vicki Fullerton is a broker associate with RE/MAX The Woodlands & Spring in The Woodlands, Texas. She has more than 37 years of real estate experience and has served in many REALTOR® leadership positions, including nine years as a regional vice president for TAR and four years as a TREPAC trustee. She was also chairman of the Houston Association of REALTORS® (HAR) in 2009 and has chaired key HAR committees since 2006, including the TREPAC Budget Subcommittee in 2012. Nationally, she is hairman of NAR’s State and Local Independent Expenditures Committee, serves as federal political coordinator to Congressman Kevin Brady, and served as state representative on the REALTORS® Political Action Committee Major Investor Council from 2013-2014.

Incoming Secretary-Treasurer Kaki Lybbert has more than 20 years of real estate experience. A fifth-generation Texan and associate with Century 21 Judge Fite Company in Denton, Texas, Lybbert is consistently one of the top producers within the company. Lybbert is also an experienced REALTOR® leader, serving as chairman of TREPAC in 2012 and as an NAR director since 2014. In her role as secretary-treasurer, Lybbert will oversee the Budget & Finance Committee and budgeting process for TAR.

Immediate Past Chairman Scott Kesner is broker-owner of Century 21 The Edge. He has more than 20 years of real estate experience and is certified by the Texas Real Estate Commission as a real estate instructor. At the local level, Kesner served as the Greater El Paso Association of REALTORS® president in 2005 and was honored as that association’s REALTOR® of the Year in 2003. Kesner has also chaired numerous REALTOR® committees at the local and statewide levels and spent five years on the NAR board of directors.

The installation ceremony took place on Sept. 1 at the Omni Hotel in Fort Worth. More than 500 REALTORS® and industry dignitaries attended, led by master of ceremonies Charles McMillan, who is a longtime Texas REALTOR® and former NAR president. The officers were installed by Dorcas Helfant-Browning, a past NAR president who served with Smith’s father, the late Harley E. Rouda Sr., when he led the National Association of REALTORS® as president in 1991.

About the Texas Association of REALTORS®

With more than 100,000 members, the Texas Association of REALTORS® is a professional membership organization that represents all aspects of real estate in Texas. We advocate on behalf of Texas REALTORS® and private-property owners to keep homeownership affordable, protect private-property rights, and promote public policies that benefit homeowners. Visit texasrealestate.com to learn more.

CONTACT: Danielle Urban – Pierpont Communications, 512-448-4950