December 14, 2018

Contact: Kim Walker, 704-940-3149

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – With the holidays just around the corner and another year of real estate sales behind them, more than 400 Realtors® gathered Friday at the Crowne Plaza Charlotte Executive Park for the Charlotte Regional Realtor® Association/Carolina Multiple Listing Services, Inc. (CarolinaMLS) 2018 Holiday Awards Luncheon & Annual Meeting.  Members participated in the Housing Opportunity Foundation’s annual silent auction, which raises funds to help support local unmet housing needs, and also paid tribute to outstanding real estate industry leaders and association volunteers.  Attendees also donated hundreds of unwrapped toys to the Isabella Santos Foundation.

Industry awards

Mike Rash, past-president of the Charlotte Regional Realtor® Association/CarolinaMLS and retired Realtor®/broker with Wilkinson ERA Real Estate, was named the 2018 Realtor® of the Year. The award is the highest honor given by the association and recognizes a Realtor® member who has made outstanding contributions to both the real estate profession and the community.  Rash, who served as president of the Charlotte Regional Realtor® Association and CarolinaMLS in 2001, retired in 2015 with more than 36 years of industry experience.

A multi-million dollar producer throughout his real estate career, Rash’s experience has spanned the gamut from sales, to manager, to broker-in-charge, to president of Prudential Carolina’s Realty’s nine offices in 1998, to most recently as broker/owner of Wilkinson ERA’s SouthPark office (formerly Exit Realty South). Ever civic-minded, Rash has volunteered and served with the American Red Cross as board chair (2009-2010); Community Link Board of Directors (2005-2012) and Community Link’s Board of Trustees (2013-present). He is also active with the Charlotte Rotary Club (2002-present) and Sertoma Club of Lake Wylie, and he is an active member of First Presbyterian Church of Charlotte.

Rash’s volunteer work with the Charlotte Regional Realtor® Association began in 1998 and included numerous committees and task forces.  Most notably, his service includes: Charlotte Regional Realtor® Association Board of Directors (1998-2002); CarolinaMLS Board of Directors (1998-2002); Housing Opportunity Foundation Board of Directors (1998-2002, 2005-2008); Legislative/Political Advisory Group (2000-2002); Iredell Realtor® Legislative Group (2000-2002); Governance Task Force (2001); Builder/Realtor® Advisory Council (2000) and the MLS/Realtor® Taskforce (2000). On the state level, Rash has served as Large Board Representative (2003-2004) and as Regional Vice President for NC REALTORS®. In 2001, Rash also served on the National Association of REALTORS® Board of Directors.

As a retired broker/Realtor® and military veteran, Rash is still busy serving the Charlotte community through his civic and charitable activities. Rash and wife Lila, who just celebrated 40 years of marriage in July, enjoy spending time with their two Schnauzer pups, Barney and Daisy, horseback riding with his favorite Tennessee Walking Horse, Sunny, and picking tunes on the electric guitar with his classic rock band, Underground Detour.

Jonathan Yeatts, a Realtor®/broker with Nestlewood Realty, was named the 2018 Vane Mingle Rookie of the Year.  The award is presented annually to a new Realtor® who excels in his or her new profession.  Winners must have been members of the Charlotte Regional Realtor® Association for at least 12 months and must have closed at least 10 transactions within their first 12 months as a Realtor®.  Winners must also be involved in charitable and civic organizations. Yeatts joined the association in August 2017 and closed 15 sales during his first 12 months of membership while maintaining a busy volunteer schedule over the course of the year.  He is an active Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools volunteer, where he serves as a proctor for End of Grade (EOG) exams and a booster for the Sedgefield Middle School Band program.  He also hosted special fundraising events for the Puerto Rican Cultural Society to help provide relief and funding for victims of Hurricane Maria.

Yeatts is a champion of women’s rights as well as an advocate for the LGBTQ community. He has held company events to help raise money for the Time’s Up Legal Defense Fund, which supports the voice and rights of women in Charlotte, and he has also hosted two large fundraisers for RAIN during Charlotte Pride Week in both 2017 and 2018. His volunteer work also includes fundraising for The Women’s Bakery, an organization that educates women in East Africa to open bakeries, thus providing nutritional welfare for the local communities as well as economic opportunities for women. In 2019, Yeatts will serve as the co-chair of the LGBTQ Advisory Group for the association’s Diversity Council.

The 2018 Committee Chair of the Year Award was bestowed upon Geena Fie, Realtor®/broker with GW Estates & Homes. The award is given annually at the president’s discretion to a chairperson who goes above and beyond the call of duty. Fie served as the chair of the CarolinaMLS Advisory Group this past year as well as on other association committees.  She has also served on the CarolinaMLS Board of Directors as the small firm representative in 2016.

As a part of the Holiday Awards Luncheon and Annual Meeting, members bring a new, unwrapped toy to the event.  This year association members gave away hundreds of toys to the Isabella Santos Foundation, an organization that raises awareness and funding for research to fight neuroblastoma.

For more information, visit www.CarolinaHome.com.  For interviews please contact Kim Walker.

The Charlotte Regional Realtor^® Association is a trade association that provides its more than 11,000 Realtor^® members with the resources and services they need to conduct ethical, professional, successful and profitable businesses. The association is dedicated to being the region's primary resource for residential real estate information. The association operates the Carolina Multiple Listing Services, Inc. (CarolinaMLS), which has more than 16,200 Subscribers and is the private cooperative Realtors^® use for access to tens of thousands of residential listings in a multicounty service area, including Charlotte, the Piedmont and Mountains areas of North Carolina and South Carolina, and beyond.

Original Publish Date: 12/14/2018