Mike Drews

Let’s recap the recognition some Illinois REALTORS® received during the year because of the significant ways they impacted their colleagues, their communities and the marketplace. And because we couldn’t fit everyone in one blog post, let’s continue the conversation today with IAR President Mike Drews and Ed Neaves.

March – Drews was part of a group of IAR leaders to visit Illinois’ elected officials in Washington, D.C., as part of the Great Lakes Caucus. They lobbied for private property rights on Capitol Hill.

July – Neaves led 100 colleagues from all over the state in a day-long training session designed to help local associations generate political involvement on the local level.

September – As president-elect, Drews led a meeting of the IAR Strategic Planning Committee in Chicago, using the NAR Danger Report as a framework for the discussion. The day-long meeting included presentations by Bryan Schneider, director of the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation and MRED CEO Rebecca Jensen. Later in the month, he joined IAR leaders at the National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals annual conference and trade show.

October – Drews became the 2016 IAR President at the association’s Inaugural Gala on Oct. 6 in Oak Brook Hills. Also, Neaves, Dan Wagner, Bob Eby, Mabel Guzman, Chris Read and Vicky Turner were honored by the IAR Board of Directors with Presidential Medallions for their service. The next month, he participated in a forum with the Chicago Association of REALTORS® and a real estate delegation from Warsaw, Poland.

Ed Neaves

November – While at the NAR Convention in San Diego, Drews and Neaves accepted the REALTOR® Party Member Involvement Committee award for IAR’s efforts to build REALTOR® Party tools. Neaves, president-elect for the Bloomington-Normal Association of REALTORS, was credited for spearheading an effort earlier in the year to bring local association leaders to Springfield for a day-long strategy session, analyzing their political outreach efforts and planning activities in the year ahead. While previous Calls for Action had typically yielded less than 10 percent member responses, a Call for Action on so-called G Fees soared to nearly 30 percent.

Drewes and Neaves told national committee members about what they learned from the process, and provided the resources for brokers to replicate the program in their local and state associations.

(This is the sixth in a series of blog posts on Illinois “REALTORS® who made a difference in 2015.” Watch for the next story tomorrow.)