December 13, 2024

Contact: Kim Walker, 704-940-3149

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – With another challenging year of real estate successes and opportunities behind, more than 300 Realtors® gathered Friday, December 13, at the Sonesta Charlotte Executive Park for Canopy Realtor® Association’s Holiday Awards Luncheon and Annual Meeting.

Canopy Housing Foundation presented the Home Again Foundation, an organization dedicated to providing sustainable, affordable housing along with supportive services for the homeless and those who are at risk of becoming homeless, with funds raised from the 2024 Strides for Shelter 5k Run+Walk. The race, which was held in late October, raised $38,500.38 and will fund the construction of a fully furnished one-bedroom, one-bath cottage for a homeless veteran in Home Again’s second development located on a two-acre site in Mecklenburg County.  The Foundation has given away over $170,000 to seven different beneficiaries through the Strides for Shelter race proceeds over the course of the race’s seven-year history.

Realtor® members in attendance at the Holiday Awards Luncheon also participated in Canopy Housing Foundation’s annual virtual auction, which raises funds to help support local unmet housing needs in Mecklenburg, Iredell, and Haywood Counties. Members participated in Canopy’s traditional toy drive and donated presents to the Pigeon Development Center in Haywood County to brighten the holidays for children and families impacted by Hurricane Helene.

The annual awards luncheon also allowed Realtors® to pay tribute to outstanding real estate industry and community leaders, association volunteers, and the 2024 Humanitarian, while donating dozens of toys as a part of a long-time holiday toy drive tradition, to brighten the lives of children served by Charlotte Family Housing.

2024 Humanitarian Award – Cristina Grossu Biffle,
Canopy Housing Foundation recognized Cristina Grossu Biffle, Realtor®/broker, Realty One Group Select, Mooresville, for her outstanding service in rendering aid to communities in western North Carolina impacted by Hurricane Helene. Biffle along with her husband, mobilized immediately in the days after Hurricane Helene’s devastation to help residents by flying their helicopter into hard-to-reach areas, bringing assistance and supplies. For weeks she worked 16-hour days which included planning, organizing, and collecting donations, and then ultimately flying those donations, from Starlinks to food and water, to those with the greatest needs. In between donation drops, they rescued people and pets, offering consolation and support as they answered the call of service to their fellow North Carolinians. Cristina later launched a social media campaign galvanizing her colleagues and many in the Charlotte community to help with donations and deliveries. When she was told that they could no longer fly into areas of devastation, she mobilized her small army of volunteers, driving trucks and cars to keep the aid flowing. To further support efforts, she began selling ‘Carolina Strong’ t-shirts and hoodies, with all proceeds going to storm relief efforts. Her caring and courageous spirit and unwavering belief in humankind embodies that of humanitarian. Canopy Housing Foundation presented the 2024 Humanitarian with a $5,000 award to bestow on a charity of her choosing.

To honor Cristina, the Foundation will contribute a total of $5,000 to be split between Wine to Water Boone, to further their work in providing access to clean water to communities in need and Lake Norman Humane for their work in serving animals.

Cristina Grossu Biffle, Humanitarian Award

Industry awards

Jason M. Gentry, 2024 Realtor® of the Year
Jason M. Gentry, a veteran Realtor®/Broker at Premier Sotheby’s, was named the 2024 Realtor® of the Year.  The award is the highest honor given by Canopy Realtor® Association and recognizes a Realtor® member who has made outstanding contributions to both the real estate profession and the community.

Jason, an accomplished broker with a strong background in architecture, has been a dedicated industry leader since entering the industry in 2010. Well-recognized in the Charlotte market, he was named the Vane Mingle Rising Star (formerly Rookie of the Year Award) by Canopy in 2011 and was identified as a Rising Star by NC

REALTORS® in 2012. He is a past president of Canopy Realtor® Association/Canopy MLS, serving in 2018 and becoming the youngest president in the history of the Association. Jason continues to contribute to the real estate industry by serving on a number of committees including at the National Association of Realtors® and NC REALTORS®, where he was named 2024 Committee Member of the Year.

 Jason Gentry, Realtor® of the Year

Baxter Hayes - Lifetime Achievement Award
Baxter Hayes, a real estate industry stalwart, was presented with the Lifetime Achievement Award. Canopy’s newest award honors an exceptional Realtor® who has demonstrated consistent and remarkable dedication to the real estate profession and exceptional service within the industry, and the community. The award recognizes individuals who, throughout their entire career, have distinguished themselves through productivity and the overall betterment of the community. The son of an industry icon, Hayes served as president of Bissel-Hayes for more than 30 years. The company merged with Cottingham Chalk in 2009, where Hayes continues in sales and management. His commitment and leadership to the industry along with years of service and philanthropy, has been felt throughout the Charlotte community, from quietly helping others in need, to his work with Habitat for Humanity and Canopy Housing Foundation’s Realtors® Care Day events. 

Sarah Tamayo – 2024 Vane Mingle Rising Star Award
Sarah Tamayo, Realtor®/broker with Keller Williams Ballantyne, was named the 2024 Vane Mingle Rising Star. The award honors the association’s first executive officer Vane Mingle, who was also the co-founder of Canopy Real Estate Institute (formerly the Mingle School of Real Estate). The Vane Mingle Rising Star award celebrates the achievements of someone new to the real estate profession who, during their first 12 months of work, has strong sales, and has shown dedication and commitment to the real estate profession, the community, and the Association. Sarah has been recognized as Agent of the Month several times at her firm, along with Emerging Agent, and ranked in the Top 20% of agents within the firm. Sarah also has strong involvement in the community volunteering with Habitat for Humanity, Roof Above Men’s Shelter, and Block Love CLT.

The 2024 President’s Award was bestowed upon Tiffany Johannes. Johannes serves as 2023 past president on Canopy’s Executive Committee and is General Manager/broker-in-charge, RE/MAX Executive.

The 2024 Committee Chair of the Year Award was presented to Eric Norman, Realtor® /broker at The McDevitt Agency and 2024 Chair of Canopy’s Diversity and Inclusion Alliance.

An Outstanding Service Award was presented to Lamar Kellar, Realtor®/broker with Jerry Kellar Real Estate of Gastonia, for 30 years of service on the Canopy MLS Advisory Group and Canopy MLS Board of Directors.

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

Canopy Realtor® Association is a trade association that provides its more than 11,900 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 Canopy MLS, which has more than 22,000 subscribers and is the private cooperative Realtors® use for access to tens of thousands of residential listings in a 26-county service area, including Charlotte, the mountains area of North Carolina, South Carolina, and beyond.

Original Publish Date: 12/13/2024