RISMEDIA, August 2, 2007—An innovative employment program has earned RE/MAX third place honors on The Military Spouse Magazine ranking of “2007 Top 10 Military Spouse FriendlySM Employers.” Operation RE/MAX, created in cooperation with the Department of Defense, helps military spouses and former military personnel find careers in the real estate industry. The Top 10 list is being published in the August 2007 edition of the magazine that targets more than 1.1 million spouses of active duty and reserve military personnel.
“Operation RE/MAX was created to ensure that spouses of military personnel, who are proudly serving our country, have a chance for more than a job but a rewarding career in the real estate industry,” said Dave Liniger, co-founder and chairman of RE/MAX International Inc. “This national ranking serves as recognition that the program is having a positive impact on these military families who sacrifice so much for our country.”
Launched in August 2006, Operation RE/MAX matches members of the military community interested in real estate careers with volunteer RE/MAX brokers, who have made a commitment to coach, train and mentor the new hires. In less than a year, Operation RE/MAX has earned the cooperation of over 500 military installations and enlisted the support of more than 950 RE/MAX brokers.
RE/MAX International is the only real estate company to make the Top 10 list and is accompanied by other high-profile organizations like The Home Depot, Wachovia, Lockheed Martin and Starbucks. In order to make the top ten, companies were required to produce $1 billion in revenue per year and have specific programs in place to hire military spouses.
“The listing confirms that spouses of our U.S. Armed Forces are valuable, talented, employable and essential to the corporate workforce,” the magazine said in introducing this year’s honorees.
As a result of the success of Operation RE/MAX, the real estate franchisor was also honored with the Office of the Secretary of Defense Exceptional Public Service Award in May of this year. In a special Pentagon ceremony, Co-Founder and Vice Chairman of the Board, Gail Liniger accepted the award, which is one of the highest given to civilians. Liniger also took the occasion to announce that RE/MAX was joining the Defense
Department sponsored initiative, America Supports You, which informs members of the armed forces about resources available through community based organizations.
In addition to Operation RE/MAX, the company proudly supports military service members and their families through the following programs:
— The Sentinels of Freedom Scholarship Foundation, a community based
organization that offers severely wounded veterans four year
“life-scholarships,” providing assistance with housing, transportation,
education, job training and employment during a transition period back
to civilian life.
— The RE/MAX Tour for the Troops generates increased awareness and
support for two foundations with missions to support wounded troops,
The Fisher House and Sentinels of Freedom. The CNN Warrior One hummer,
originally embedded with the U.S. Marines during the invasion of Iraq,
was overhauled and auctioned off to benefit wounded veterans and now
travels the country to raise money for both foundations.
— The 2007 Military Long Drive Championship, a nationwide golf
competition that seeks to find “the longest driving military golfer on
the planet.” In cooperation with the U.S. Army Family and Morale,
Welfare and Recreation Command, preliminary competitions will be held
at 25 military installations. Finals will be held in Mesquite, NV at
the same time as the RE/MAX World Long Drive Championship.
Anyone involved with the U.S. Armed Forces can obtain further information about Operation RE/MAX by visiting http://www.military.com/spouses or http://www.operationremax.com.
