Kevin Sears of Springfield, president of the National Association of Realtors, is making housing construction one of the organization’s top priorities.
In the early ’90s, the new president of the National Association of Realtors was a stunt and high-diver at Riverside Park (now Six Flags New England) in Agawam.
The job occasionally included being lit on fire.
Now he has taken the helm at an organization that has been the subject of a lawsuit over commission structures, faced allegations of sexual harassment, and saw its last president abruptly resign over threats to reveal personal information.
From the diving board to the realtor board
Kevin Sears competed in diving at Providence College and coached for two years immediately after graduating before becoming a realtor in 1994. Having served on dozens of committees on local, state, and national levels, he was surprised but ready to serve when former president Tracy Kasper suddenly stepped down on Jan. 8 after only months at the helm.
Sears works with his siblings at Sears Real Estate in Springfield, the brokerage his father started in 1971. The day he got his license to sell real estate in 1994, his father instructed him to join the local board of realtors. He immediately volunteered on three committees.