ERA Real Estate recently inducted four individuals and two ERA® companies into the brand’s Hall of Fame. Established in 2013, the ERA Hall of Fame honors member companies and individuals who have consistently earned high levels of recognition and have made contributions with lasting impacts on the culture and history of the franchise system. The inductees were announced at the 2016 ERA International Business Conference in Orlando, Florida.
This year’s class includes:
Individuals:
- Tom Grizzard – ERA Tom Grizzard/Leesburg, Fla.
- Mike Harrington, Sr. – ERA Harrington Realty, Inc./Dover, Del.
- Sandra McDaniel – ERA Davis & Linn/Jacksonville, Fla.
- Jeff Riber, Vice President, Strategic Consulting, ERA Real Estate (awarded posthumously)
Companies:
- ERA American Real Estate/Shalimar, Florida; Gloria Frazier, Broker/Owner
- ERA Brokers Consolidated/Saint George, Utah; Thayne Houston/Mark Walter Broker/Owners
“The enduring success of ERA Real Estate is due in large part to the many and considerable contributions of this year’s Hall of Fame inductees who have helped shape and sustain our unique culture of collaboration, knowledge sharing and commitment to community over the last four decades,” says Charlie Young, president and CEO of Real Estate. “We are fortunate to have these standard bearers and brand ambassadors in our midst and will continue to build upon their contributions as we endeavor to further advance the brand.”
Tom Grizzard, ERA Grizzard Real Estate, Leesburg, Fla.
Drawn to ERA’s embrace of innovation and technology, a new concept in 1976 when he affiliated with the brand, Tom Grizzard leveraged ERA’s tools and systems to grow his firm, which now consists of seven offices. He also created a unique position in his marketplace by tapping into the franchisor’s spirit of collaboration and team work. With a commitment to business planning, Grizzard led his company with integrity and professionalism while maintaining a close-knit, family culture. Grizzard’s son, Gus, took over the leadership of the firm several years ago, but he and his wife Linda remain active in the commercial real estate sector. Thanks to Grizzard’s leadership and careful succession planning, the company earned ERA’s Top All-Around Company award in 2010 and again in 2011.
Mike Harrington, Sr. ERA Harrington Realty, Inc., Dover, Del.
A keen businessman, Mike Harrington coupled his love of historic homes with an innovative financing program to build a large portfolio of investment properties. When he decided to open a real estate brokerage in 1978, he knew aligning with a franchise would fuel his growth and was drawn to ERA’s spirit of innovation and culture of collaboration. A member of ERA’s National Advisory Council, Harrington is a regular at ERA national events as both an attendee and a speaker. Consistently a top performing company within the ERA system, ERA Harrington Realty has grown considerably thanks to Harrington’s expertise in mergers and acquisitions and creating complementary lines of business. The firm earned ERA’s Top All-Around Company award in 1989 and has been named a finalist in 2004 and 2006.
Sandra McDaniel, ERA Davis & Linn, Jacksonville, Fla.
A former ERA franchisee, Sandra McDaniel and her husband Jeff met fellow ERA owners Carole Davis and Jim Linn who ran a neighboring ERA brokerage in the early 1980s. The four formed a friendship that eventually resulted in merging their firms. McDaniel focused on sales, while Davis and Linn ran the company, allowing Jeff to pursue his desire to retire from real estate. McDaniel eventually leveraged her success as a sales associate into a second career as a learning professional, leading company-sponsored courses designed to help the firm’s independent agents be more successful. She has been tapped as a national trainer for ERA’s Acceleration class and has served on numerous panels, sharing her knowledge and insights with her fellow ERA colleagues.
Jeff Riber (awarded posthumously), Vice President, Strategic Consulting, ERA Real Estate
Jeff Riber possessed an uncanny combination of gifts: a passion for real estate, incredible accounting acumen and the ability to not only share his knowledge but make learning fun and impressionable. And he leveraged these gifts for the benefit of the ERA family for more than 30 years. As ERA’s Vice President, Strategic Consulting, Riber touched thousands of people in the ERA community from personalized, one-on-one consultations with brokers to standing room only classes on accounting best practices. With CPI and CRI certifications, Riber was also a licensed real estate broker and licensed mortgage broker and possessed a vast body of knowledge that he tirelessly shared. In fact, many of his financial management tools and processes have been implemented company-wide as standard operating procedure.
Gloria Frazier, ERA American Real Estate, Shalimar, Fla.
Celebrating its 35th year with the brand, ERA American Real Estate was founded by Gloria Frazier and a fellow female partner in 1981, a time in which women business owners were even more scarce. To help their firm stand out in a crowded marketplace, they affiliated with ERA Real Estate and weathered the challenging market, emerging three years later as the sole real estate firm in their area. A member of ERA’s National Advisory Committee, Frazier has consistently embraced innovation and change to keep the firm competitive and fuel sustained growth. Under her leadership, the company was named ERA’s top all- around company in 1991, and earned recognition as a finalist for the top company award in 2007.
Thayne Houston/Mark Walter, ERA Brokers Consolidated, Saint George, Utah
Affiliating in 1982, ERA Brokers Consolidated was formed by the merger of five Utah-area business owners, an unprecedented business move at the time. A shining example of ERA’s collaborative culture, members of the firm came to be known as the real estate “rat pack” for their practice of traveling to other ERA companies and regional meetings to share best practices. Growing from one office and 25 agents to six locations and 100 agents, the company leverages the experience of its founders with the next generation of leadership to ensure a strong future for the firm, one that continues its strong family culture built upon the principles of integrity, trust and delivering value to the company’s affiliated agents and clients.
For more information, visit www.era.com.
