Mabél Guzmán leads the REALTORS® Political Involvement Committee held in Peoria in January, 2016. She has played a prominent role in local, state and national REALTOR® assocaition governance.

Mabél Guzmán leads the REALTORS® Political Involvement Committee held in Peoria in January, 2016. She has played a prominent role in local, state and national REALTOR® association governance. She’s just been named as a vice president for 2017 for the National Association of REALTORS®.

Illinois REALTOR® Mabél Guzmán was announced as a 2017 NAR vice president at the national association’s board of directors meeting held in Washington, D.C., on Saturday, May 14, 2016.

Guzmán, a broker for @properties in Chicago, will fill the VP position which focuses on association affairs, and will be part of the presidential cabinet. She will be joined by 2017 NAR Vice President Elizabeth Mendenhall, and another vice president, Kevin Sears of Springfield, Mass.

Mabél Guzmán works on a Habitat for Humanity project in Springfield in 2014. Guzmàn has been a volunteer leader with the association for many years, and had participated in numerous Habitat builds.

Mabél Guzmán works on a Habitat for Humanity project sponsored by Illinois REALTORS® in Springfield in 2014. Guzmán has been a volunteer leader with the real estate trade association for many years, and has participated in numerous Habitat builds.

Guzmán, AWHD, has a long history of serving on local, state and national governance committees.

A self-described “servant leader,” Guzmán was president of the Chicago Association of REALTORS® in 2011 and has served on the Illinois REALTORS® Board of Directors.

In 2016, she chaired the REALTORS® Political Involvement Committee and is serving on the Strategic Planning and Professional Standards committees. She is a member of the Spring Conference and State Legislative Contacts working groups and the Public Policy & Government Affairs Working Group.

“I am super excited and really looking forward to serving the membership,” Guzmán said. “Every president gets to pick a cabinet, and these appointments are based on what value you bring and how they consider you able to move the association forward.”

Serving on so many Illinois REALTOR® committees over the years has helped prepare her for the new role, she said.

“I went to meetings as a volunteer — even meetings for committees I didn’t belong to,” she said. “I always try to ask questions, be engaged and ready for any meeting I attend.”

Guzmán’s work at the national level has been ongoing for several years. She had served as chair of the NAR Conventional Finance Policy Committee and took on as a goal coming up with ways to help address the crushing burden of student loan debt as it relates to inability to afford housing. She helped establish a working group focused on the problem which made recommendations on legislation to address the issue.

In 2014, Guzmán testified before the U.S. Senate Banking Subcommittee on Housing on making housing more attainable.

Her goals for her year as vice president include making sure the committee structure works to best reflect the current and future issues before NAR. She’ll take part in NAR’s strategic planning meeting this summer.

“We don’t just want members coming to a meeting just to go to a meeting,” she said. “There should be substance and a reason for going. There should be a goal of participating, creating impact and giving back to the association in a manner that members can say they felt they were part of something very special.”