Please take a moment to congratulate the 2009 REALTOR(R) Technology Spotlight Award Winners!! We will be providing some more information on each of them over the next couple days! Again, please join us in applauding these exceptional technology mavens!
Advocate
Tina Merrit – Long and Foster
Innovator
Ed DeRosa – Florida Association of REALTORS
Pioneer
Brandon Rodriguez – Brandon Michael & Associates
Visionary
Taqi Rizvi – Houston Association of REALTORS(R)
CRT would also like to take this opportunity to thank each judge that helped shine the Spotlight on these exceptional individuals! We understand that this decisions were tough, and we are excited to see the caliber of people that were nominated!
P.S. – Yes, we will be updating the ad to include a byline about where they are from 
Congratulations to all the winners!
Congratulations Ed!
The team is very proud of your accomplishment.
I’m quite confused…how can a Pioneer Award Winner be someone who uses a public site like Active Rain that networks between Realtors, Not even one BLOG posting on his Active Rain site, Real Estate Statistics using Zillow.com charts win this award? He uses Smarter Agent mobile application and does that make him a Pioneer? Please help me understand your criteria for this award. Let’s find some real features and benefits that can catch our attention.
I personally reviewed all of the sites nominated and I had this one on the BOTTOM of my list!! Again, please help me understand this category and its criteria.
Mark Thomason, Realtor
I’m quite confused…how can a Pioneer Award Winner be someone who uses a public site like Active Rain that networks between Realtors, Not even one BLOG posting on his Active Rain site, Real Estate Statistics using Zillow.com charts win this award? He uses Smarter Agent mobile application and does that make him a Pioneer? Please help me understand your criteria for this award. Let’s find some real features and benefits that can catch our attention.
I personally reviewed all of the sites nominated and I had this one on the BOTTOM of my list!! Again, please help me understand this category and its criteria.
Mark Thomason, Realtor – Silicon Valley California
Mark — Thanks for your comment. Much of the feedback that is attributed to Brandon was through his implementation of a complete Virtual Office and taking elements that are existing for every REALTOR and applying them in a ‘pioneering’ fashion. From this the judges reviewed all the criteria and the feedback from the nominations and made their evaluation. I would enjoy taking this offline if you would like to discuss it further in depth. cgmckeever [at] realtors org
Thanks – Chris
Congratulations to @TinaInVirginia! Doing the Commonwealth proud. As usual.
Taqi is a technology stud. He has the insight and foreward thinking to analyze complex technologies at the association level and ability to delegate responsibilities to other staff members to get the job done. Just wait till you see what he has planned for 2010 to build membership value using API and mashups from multiple technologies.
I would like to thank CRT for Innovation Award and the team at Florida Realtors who inspire me every day to look for better ways to support our membership. I am proud to be associated with a profession that is instrumental in providing the “American Dream”, home ownership.
Congratulations to everyone who was recognized in the Spotlight Award process for their accomplishments.
Congratulations to all the winners and finalists. CRT should be pleased with the strong number of nominees.
As a judge, I can tell you one thing for certain…
Choosing winners was HARD.
I can’t speak for other judges, but when I was ranking the nominees, I used a process where I read all the comments about the nominees, visited their site (or sites), and Googled them to see what, if anything, others were saying about them. Then using a mysterious formula of that info, applied with my own gut feel and knowledge and divided by a random number to arrive at a ranking.
Kidding of course about the random number thing.
Also of note was the judges did not “collaborate”, we all ranked nominees individually (which IMO was the best approach).
Just trying to say I took the judging seriously, as did the other judges, and knew full well that there was no way everyone would agree with all the selections.
There were some terrific nominations. And it was CLOSE, I assure you.
Mark – take a look at Brandon’s new search site: http://www.BMATexas.com
it’s simple, effective and will draw in clients through it’s simplicity and quick answer of what people are looking for.
Congrats to Ed DeRosa on all his hard work and efforts. You continue to inspire all those around you. We are so proud of you! ~ Nicole
I wanted to say Congratulations to Brandon Rodriguez and all the other Winners! I have been a close personal friend of Brandon’s and even worked for him for a period of time as his Design Consultant. I read the Pioneer criteria, and I do have to agree Brandon was a great choice. He had a vision and I have seen him take 5 years to get to this point. A leader? Yes! Not many people know but Brandon started his company in March of 2009 so it is not even 7 months old. To start a company in a recession with a non traditional Real Estate firm that is 100% Virtual Office, is a Leader! At 32, this Pioneer is the person to watch out for! Congratulations Brandon we are proud of you in Dallas!
Congratulations to all of the winners and a special hats off to fellow “Pioneer” Brandon Rodriguez. It is wonderful to know that all of you are out there. Keep raising the bar!!
Congrats to all of the winners and especially to Ed Derosa for all he has done to enhance the capabilities of Florida REALTORS through Technology, Innovation and Education.