Chris Ware, an agent with Keller Williams Metropolitan in Bedford and member of the Greater Manchester-Nashua Board of Realtors, was selected as NHAR's 63nd Realtor of the Year.
Ware, pictured at the September award ceremony with friends Gail Athas and Linda Rosentall, is a Bedford resident and eight-year Realtor.
Ware stepped into a leadership position with the Greater Manchester-Nashua Board as a director in 2019, and he ascended to president-elect in 2020 and president in 2021. He was part of a leadership team faced with the daunting task of guiding the state’s largest local Realtor board through the pandemic – helping to train members for online meetings and education, providing guidance for members to conduct business safely, and continue fundraising efforts despite being shut down from in-person events.
His leadership team initiated a New Building Task Force, the first Strategic Planning Committee in six years, and a Technology Committee to plan and launch a new GMNBR website. It also created a Hiring Task Force to retain the organization’s new association executive. And during Ware’s year as President, he provided a monthly video update to help promote transparency despite very little in-person interaction.
Ware has been active at the state and national level as well, serving on the New Hampshire Association of Realtors public policy committee and board of directors, and as a voting delegate member at the national Realtor conference in 2021. He also has two national Realtor designations, At Home With Diversity and Commitment to Excellence.
He left corporate America seven years ago to become a Realtor, and he said he can’t imagine going back. “Becoming a Realtor was the best decision I ever made,” he said, “and my impact is much greater.”
Past recipients of the Realtor of the Year award include:
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.