Kennedy of Houlihan Lawrence elected HGAR president

Nancy Kennedy of Houlihan Lawrence in Croton-on-Hudson will serve as the 2012 president of the newly-formed Hudson Gateway Association of Realtors (HGAR). She and the other officers were elected by the members of the Westchester-Putnam, Rockland and Orange County Realtor Associations as part of the merger process. Kennedy succeeds Michael Graessle, the 2011 president of the Westchester Putnam Association of Realtors (WPAR), Ron Garafalo, the former president of the Orange County Associations of Realtor (OCAR), and Bill Thorne, formerly the president of the Rockland County Board of Realtor (RCBOR). Kennedy has been in the real estate business for more than 25 years, and has been involved with the former WPAR and Westchester County Board of Realtors (WCBR) since 1986. She is a former owner/broker of her own agency and is currently an associate broker with Houlihan Lawrence. She was a past-president of the Westchester Putnam Multiple Listing Service and has served as a director for both the New York State Association of Realtor and the National Association of Realtors. Over the years, she has served on every committee at WPAR and WCBR, has been a top sales producer for both dollar volume and sales in Westchester County, and was honored as "Realtor of the Year" in 1997. Katheryn De Clerck of BHG Rand in Warwick has been named HGAR's president-elect for 2013. Four HGAR regional VP have also been elected: Diane Cummins of Prudential Holmes & Kennedy; Gail Fattizzi of Westchester Real Estate Inc.; Drew Kessler of ERA Tucker Associates; and John Lease III of John Lease Realtors. Jerry Lott of Jerry Lott Associates will serve as secretary-treasurer. John Barrett of Admiral Real Estate Services was re-elected as president of the Association's Commercial & Investment Division (CID). The Hudson Gateway Association of REALTORS®* (HGAR) is a not-for-profit trade association covering over 9,000 real estate professionals doing business in Westchester, Putnam, Rockland, and Orange counties. HGAR* is comprised of the former Westchester Putnam Association of REALTORS® (WPAR), Rockland County Board of REALTORS® (RCBR) and Orange County Association of REALTORS® (OCAR). All three groups voted to merge into the new HGAR* group earlier this year. The name change is pending approval by the National Association of REALTORS. ®