Carmen Bauman Named 2024 HGAR President; Anthony Domathoti Awarded Realtor of the Year

TARRYTOWN—Carmen Bauman, Principal Broker of Green Grass Real Estate of Bronxville and Associate Broker of commercial real estate brokerage firm RM Friedland, was named 2024 President of the Hudson Gateway Association of Realtors at the organization’s 107th Annual Member Appreciation Day held on Oct. 30 at the Westchester Marriott in Tarrytown. More than 1,000 HGAR members attended the day-long event.

Among the many highlights of the day-long program was Past President Anthony Domathoti being named 2023 HGAR Realtor of the Year. Domathoti is the Broker-Owner of EXIT Realty Premium of the Bronx. HGAR selected John Dolgetta, owner of Dolgetta Law, PLLC as its 2023 Affiliate of the Year. Dolgetta serves as HGAR (Outside) Legal Counsel. Also, 2023 HGAR President Tony D’Anzica provided a detailed review of the association’s activities and initiatives this year and announced he had selected HGAR Chief Marketing Officer Cathleen Stack as the 2023 President’s Award winner.

From left, 2023 Realtor of the Year Anthony Domathoti and Recognition Committee Co-Chair Crystal Hawkins-Syska

PHOTO BY JOHN VECCHIOLLA

President D’Anzica highlighted some of the major initiatives undertaken during his term of office, including a study of the association’s official newspaper Real Estate In-Depth. He reported that the Real Estate In-Depth PAG (President’s Advisory Group) recommended and the HGAR Board recently approved the transition of the newspaper from print to digital. The last print edition of the newspaper will be published in December 2023. In January, a new Real Estate In-Depth website will be launched. HGAR will continue to distribute the highly popular “Daily Update” and Real Estate In-Depth digital weekly newsletter via email to all Members and Affiliates. In addition, a monthly e-mailed newsletter that will include top feature stories at Realestateindepth.com will also be distributed by email. He said the discontinuance of the print newspaper will reap HGAR print, graphics and mailing cost savings of more than $200,000 in 2024.

He also reported that work by another PAG on the possible repositioning of the Bronx HGAR building is nearing completion.

D’Anzica also discussed the association’s Global Business Council, which received the prestigious 2023 Platinum Global Achievement Award from the National Association of Realtors; the highly successful DEI Summit, the formation of the HGAR Sustainability Committee; the expansion of CID, the Young Professionals Network and the work of the association’s Strategic Planning Committee.

In a speech to the assembled membership, D’Anzica said that despite the headwinds facing the industry and the association going forward, “I am confident that our hard work has made our association much stronger, financially sounder, and well-positioned to weather any storm.”

He concluded his remarks by saying, “HGAR always needs to set the standard. Not just here at home in our region, but across the United States as one of the best associations in this country.”

President-Elect Bauman promised that in 2024 she plans on using the nearly 14,000 members to help advance the association’s initiatives. “I won’t be doing it alone,” Bauman said. She related that HGAR’s members are its most important asset and she plans on harnessing that “human capital” to help achieve the goals that the HGAR leadership and its members agree on for the upcoming year.

HGAR Chief Executive Officer Lynda Fernandez, who joined the association in September, spoke of the HGAR’s leadership and staff’s exceptional reputation both in the region and across the country. “I am so excited to have joined them and you and to be able to look to the future with positivity and strength. Your warm welcome and support have meant more to me than you will ever imagine,” she said.

From left, 2023 Affiliate of the Year John Dolgetta and Recognition Committee Co-Chair Crystal Hawkins-Syska

PHOTO BY JOHN VECCHIOLLA

Fernandez also offered high praise for HGAR Chief Operating Officer Jana Currier for her leadership during the CEO search earlier this year while serving as Acting CEO and also for her work in securing $500,000 in NAR Realtor Relief Foundation grant funding for victims of the torrential rain storms in early July that hit the region. At the meeting, Fernandez said that HGAR had distributed approximately $250,000 to 147 families. The deadline for applying for grant funding was extended until Nov. 15, she reported.

After a quorum was recorded, HGAR officials presided over the election of Board members and reported the slate of 2024 HGAR Officers who will be voted on at the next HGAR Board of Directors meeting.

The 2024 HGAR Officers will be:

President

Carmen A. Bauman
Green Grass Real Estate Corp.
141 Parkway Road, Suite 9
Bronxville, New York 10708

President-Elect

Vlora Sejdi
HomeSmart Homes & Estates
777 Westchester Avenue
White Plains, NY 10604

Treasurer

Joseph Lippolis
BHHS River Towns Real Estate
983 Main St.
Peekskill, NY 10566

Secretary

Rey Hollingsworth Falu
Hollingsworth Real Estate Grp.
75 S. Broadway, 4th Floor
White Plains, NY 10601

Immediate Past President

Tony L. D’Anzica
DynaMax Realty NYC, Inc.
1463 5th Ave.
New York, NY 10035

Previous Past President

Anthony Domathoti
Exit Realty Premium
813 Morris Park Ave.
Bronx, NY 10462

The Directors voted on at the Annual Meeting who will serve in 2024 include:

Regional Director and Chapter Representative Bronx County

Joseph Cosentino
Morris Park Realty Group
1965 Williamsbridge Rd
Bronx, NY 10461

Regional Director and Chapter Representative New York County (i.e., Manhattan)

Lee Presser
eXp Realty NYC
1501 Broadway, 12th Floor
New York, NY 10036

Regional Director Putnam County

Aaron C. Velez
Houlihan Lawrence Inc.
Town Centre at Somers
104 Village Square
Somers, NY 10589-2305

Regional Director Orange County

Carole M. McCann
Hudson Heritage Realty
57 E Main St
Washingtonville, NY 10992

Regional Director Rockland County

Jennifer Rousset
Howard Hanna Rand Realty
268 S. Main St.
New City, NY 10956

Regional Director Westchester County

Crystal Hawkins Syska
Keller Williams NY Realty
120 Bloomingdale Rd., Suite 101
White Plains, NY 10605

Directors

Joseph Houlihan
Houlihan & O’Malley Real Estate Services
141 Parkway Road
Bronxville, NY 10708

Maryann Tercasio
Howard Hanna Rand Realty
299 Route 32
Central Valley, NY 10917

Ronald Garafalo
John J. Lease REALTORS® Inc.
495 Schutt Rd. Ext.
Middletown, NY 10940

Shanese Williams
eXp Realty
777 Westchester Avenue, Suite 101
White Plains, NY 10604

Timothy Bohike
Howard Hanna Rand Realty
268 South Main Street
New City, NY 10956

The HGAR Nominating Committee consisted of: Anthony Domathoti, Chair; Susan Goldy, Renee Zurlo, Diane Mitchell, Christina Stevens, Ruth Lara Dean and Ismail Kolya.

After the business portion of the Annual Meeting concluded, HGAR Recognition Committee Co-Chair Crystal Hawkins-Syska announced the other major association awards for 2023, after first acknowledging Leah Caro, who was recently bestowed the 2023 “Alan Yassky Distinguished Service Award” by the New York State Association of Realtors.

Other 2023 HGAR award winners were:

Spirit Award: Nan Palumbo, Co-Chair of HGAR’s Young Professionals Network; Christina Prostano

Extra Mile Award: HGAR Treasurer Joseph Lippolis

Up and Coming: Tiffany French, Tracey Scaro

Excellence in Commercial Real Estate: MacKenzie Forsberg

Stephanie Crispinelli Humanitarian Award: Matt McAllister

Albert P. Schatz Legislative Advocacy Award: Kathy Zamechansky

HGAR also recognized staff on milestone levels of service: Eliezer Rodriguez, Regional Director of Government Affairs, 10 years; Jennifer Andriach, Accounting Manager, 15 years and Lisa Andrade, Education Coordinator, 25 years.

The Keynote Speaker at the event was best-selling author Alex Banayan. The RPAC Luncheon Guest Speaker was Joe Harris, Vice President of Government Advocacy for the National Association of Realtors.

The day-long program also featured a host of informative seminars including: “Ethics for Realtors—Everything You Need to Know and More!” presented by HGAR General Counsel and Professional Standards Administrator Brian Levine; “Artificial Intelligence in Real Estate,” presented by Cross County Mortgage Senior Loan Officer George Tsemberlis; “Using Video to Convert Leads to Clients,” presented by Digitality Marketing; “Personal Branding Panel,” which was moderated by Debra Budetti and featured panelists Stacey Cohen, President and CEO of Co-Communications; Risa Hoag, President of GMG PR and Chris Pagli, Social Media Manager for HGAR.

OneKey MLS held a number of informative sessions, including “Lead Generation with Remine,” “Product Demonstrations on MLS Touch and OneHome,” and “Industry Legal Update” with Mitchell Skinner, Attorney/Owner of Larson Skinner PLLC.

In addition, OneKey MLS staged a panel discussion that featured: OneKey MLS Chief Executive Officer Richard Haggerty; OneKey MLS COO Melissa King; OneKey MLS Board of Managers Chair Frank Dellaccio and Skinner of Larson Skinner PLLC.

More than 50 businesses manned booths offering a host of real estate, legal, financing and home service products. The program concluded with a Celebratory Cocktail Hour.

The chief sponsors of the event were: Premier Sponsor: O’Donnell & Cullen Property Tax Consultants; Industry Insights & Technology Sponsor: OneKey MLS; RPAC Luncheon Sponsor: Hudson United and Celebration Cocktail Party Sponsor: ASAP Mortgage Corp.