San Diego, CA & Philadelphia, PA–(HISPANIC PR WIRE – BUSINESS WIRE)–April 26, 2005—Frances Martinez Myers, a senior executive at Fox & Roach/Trident LP in Philadelphia, takes over the role of Chairman of the National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals (NAHREP) at the group’s annual legislative conference in Washington, D.C. this week. A native New Yorker of Puerto Rican descent, Martinez Myers succeeds co-founder and outgoing Chairman Gary Acosta as head of the five-year-old, 14,000-member nonprofit trade association for Hispanic real estate professionals.
A 30-year veteran of the real estate industry, she is the first woman to serve as chairman of the real estate group and the first leader outside its original founders Gary Acosta and Ernest Reyes to lead the organization. She takes over this volunteer role at NAHREP at a momentous time when the industry is redirecting resources to offer expanded services to Latino homebuyers.
“Frances Martinez Myers brings the savvy of a real estate practitioner and the leadership of a corporate executive to her role as head of NAHREP,” said outgoing chairman Gary Acosta. “She is the perfect person to lead the organization to greater prominence at a time when Hispanic consumers are becoming a super force in the marketplace.”
Martinez Myers will handle her responsibilities at NAHREP in addition to her day-to-day role as senior vice president at Fox & Roach/Trident LP, the holding company of six home services, financial and relocation related services. In her capacity, she oversees the business development efforts of Prudential Fox & Roach Realtors, the fifth largest real estate company in the nation, which includes responsibility for relocation, REO, and affinity marketing services. She also oversees Employee Transfer Corporation, a national corporate relocation company.
“Homeownership is the hallmark of the American Dream; it creates financial wealth and that can make dreams come true. NAHREP is poised through its mission to help advance the economic wealth of Hispanics in this country,” said Martinez Myers. “My involvement with NAHREP personally fulfills a long established goal of mine to never forget where I came from and give back in a way that is meaningful.”
She began her real estate career in 1975 at the Boyer Agency in Southeastern Connecticut. Later she joined PHH/Cendant, where she worked in broker network management and national and international business development.
Martinez Myers serves on the Board of Directors for the National Association of Realtors, Freddie Mac, the Affordable Housing Advisory Council and the National Advisory Council of Fannie Mae. She is also a member of worldwide Employee Relocation Council (ERC) and has received its meritorious service award.
NAHREP is in its fifth year of existence and has experienced 25 percent annual growth in its membership in recent years as practitioners scramble to learn ways to better serve the Spanish-speaking 1.5 million Latino homebuyers that are projected to enter the housing market by 2010.
Hispanics are expected to account for 31 percent of the nation’s household growth between 2000 and 2010(1), and nearly 40 percent of all new homeowners over the next 20 years(2). Bilingual real estate practitioners will play a central role in the home-buying process for Latinos, a fact reinforced by a study last year from the Tomas Rivera Policy Institute at the University of Southern California.(3)
NAHREP’s mission since its inception is to increase the rate of homeownership amongst Hispanics by empowering practitioners with tools and information that will help them better serve homebuyers.
Based in San Diego, NAHREP is a nonprofit 501(c)(6) trade association and the premier organization for Hispanics in the real estate industry. Founded in 1999 by veteran practitioners Gary Acosta and Ernest Reyes, the organization has more than 12,000 members in 50 states and 31 affiliate chapters.
(1&3) El Sueno de su Casa: the Homeownership Potential for Mexican-Heritage Families, Tomas Rivera Policy Institute at University of Southern California
(2) Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies
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CONTACT:
NAHREP
Mary Mancera
760-634-5007 or 760-505-2911
