REALTOR of the Year

REALTOR of the Year

Chris Norwood, President of NAI Norwood Group in Bedford and a member of the New Hampshire Commercial Investment Board, is NHAR's 64th Realtor of the Year.

Norwood, a Portsmouth resident and 20-year Realtor, received the award at NHAR’s annual Realtor of the Year ceremony, held Sept. 19 at the Grappone Conference Center in Concord at the tail end of the association’s education symposium.

“As chair of our Public Policy Committee for the past five years, Chris has one of the most visible and critical volunteer roles at our association,” said NHAR President Ben Cushing. “He’s on the front lines, advocating for our members and property owners throughout the legislative session, and he does it with poise and unmatched attention to detail.”

He was selected from a group of 14 local board honorees and presented with a variety of mementos for the occasion, including a Realtor of the Year crystal and pin, a citation from Governor Chris Sununu, and a certificate to cover his expenses at the upcoming National Association of Realtors conference and trade show in Anaheim, Calif.

“It makes me proud to recognize each of our local board winners and celebrate a unique community that is one part competitor but a larger part family,” Cushing said. “And Chris really does represent the best of the best. He has always worked incredibly hard for the greater good of our association.”

Norwood was licensed in 2000 and started working full-time in real estate in 2003. His first round of volunteerism was on a local education committee, and he has been serving in a volunteer capacity ever since.

In addition to his role as NHAR’s Public Policy Committee chair, he has served as President of the New England Chapter of CCIM as well as the Commercial Investment Board, and since then worked on several different task forces and committees for those organizations.

Outside of the Realtor organization, he serves as chair of the New Hampshire Housing Finance Authority board of directors and on the board for the Daniel Webster Council of the Boy Scouts of America. When he is not working or volunteering, he is enjoying time with his wife and four daughters (ages 8, 8, 6 and 3), and says his favorite hobby beyond that is, as you might expect, sleeping.

Norwood says he cares deeply about the Realtor Code of Ethics and its roots in the Golden Rule.

“In each step of my work and volunteer life, I try to leave the trail cleaner than I found it, which is my Boy Scout way of saying, ‘do unto other,’” he said. “I feel I am living the principals of good real estate practice for myself, other Realtors, and the public.”

Past recipients of the Realtor of the Year award include:

2022 | Chris Ware
2021 | Kathy Ahlin
2020 | Dick DuMez
2019 | Tom Riley
2018 | Diana Mancuso
2017 | Jim Lee
2016 | Gerry O’Connell
2015 | Marion Cheney
2014 | Gail Athas
2013 | Steve White
2012 | Jim Lyons
2011 | Nancy Philbrick
2010 | Laura Hallahan
2009 | Bonnie Guevin
2008 | Mary Beth Rudolph
2007 | Antonella Bliss
2006 | Mary Magnell
2005 | Kathy Corey Fox
2004 | Ann Cummings
2003 | Stephen Patriquin
2002 | Peg Walther
2001 | Judith Williams
2000 | Alan Rice
1999 |Marypat Bilodeau
1998 | Stewart Lamprey
1997 | Paul Sargeant
1996 | Lois Ireland
1995 | Mary Magnell
1994 | Elizabeth Paulson
1993 | Nancy G. LeRoy
1992 | Normand R. Beaudry
1991 | Lorraine DeMinico
1990 | Jeannine Lord
1989 | Kathy Rush
1988 | Betty Johnson
1987 | Patricia A. Dowling
1986 | Antoinette Beaudry
1985 | John Forbes
1984 | Rosemarie Ducharme
1983 | Frances Gosselin
1982 | William A. Dube
1981 | Leonard A. Lord
1980 | Herman K. Schierioth
1979 | Nancy N. Pomerleau
1978 | Ralph E. Johnson
1977 | Richard Chute
1976 | Louise Gale
1975 | Armand R. Paquette
1974 | Gerry Handley
1973 | Charles F. Duffley
1972 | Walter Fischer
1971 | Ernest C. Stewart
1970 | Frances Ash
1969 | Louis L. Saucier
1968 | Wilfred Plante
1967 | Erving R. Simonds
1966 | Angeline A. Kopka
1965 | James A. Shanley
1964 | Charles W. Gray
1963 | Daniel M. Ninde
1961 | Floyd Willey
1960 | Erle G. Bishop
1958 | Albert S. Baker


Recipients are collectively judged by an NHAR working group to select the state Realtor of the Year based on the following criteria:

  • Realtor spirit: high principles of integrity, adherence to the Realtor Code of Ethics, and furtherance of the principles of good real estate practice among brokers, agents and the general public.
  • Civic activity: Local, state and national level participation in civic and service clubs, charitable activities, political commissions, fraternal or religious groups.
  • Business accomplishments: Public recognition of business conduct, service to clients, imaginative and creative advertising programs, rehabilitation work, land utilization, etc.
  • Local board activity: Offices held and committee work, special assignments, seminar activity and educational work, membership and offices held in local chapters of Institutes, Societies and Councils.
  • State association activity: Offices held and committee work, attendance and participation in state conventions, directors meetings and educational conferences.
  • National association activity: National offices and committee work, membership and work in Institutes, Societies and Councils, attendance at national conventions and directors’ meetings.

The state Realtor of the Year is announced at the annual conference each year and is presented with an engraved crystal award. In addition the recipient receives funds to assist with attending the National Association of REALTORS annual conference, where all state Realtors of the Year are recognized. All recipients are listed on a plaque displayed at the state association office.

"Amidst the sea of change to which the New Hampshire Association of REALTORS has played witness in its 85 years, one thing that has remained constant is the Realtor 'R' and the value we bring to every real estate transaction in which we take part. We are part of a unique community where our familial cooperation transcends our business competition. These are not mere platitudes, but our living ideals, and they are, in fact, the foundation on which we conduct ourselves in our day-to-day affairs."

Joanie McIntire, 2024 President, New Hampshire REALTORS