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When Kevin Sears was competing in high-school and college diving events, one of his most challenging dives was the gainer, a tricky move in which the diver moves quickly toward the front of the board, takes a big bounce, and then rotates backwards from a forward-facing position. Successfully executing the gainer requires preparation and self-confidence. Those are two qualities Sears demonstrates in abundance as president of the National Association of REALTORS®. You might say he’s been preparing for the job since 1994, when he became a licensed real estate professional and a REALTOR® and began saying yes to volunteer roles. For Sears, a broker with Lamacchia Realty/Sears Real Estate in Springfield, Mass., each committee appointment was an opportunity to give back to a business he’d grown up around and loved from an early age.
Sears’ decades of active involvement lean heavily toward advocacy. At the national level, before joining the Leadership Team, Sears served 25 years as NAR’s Federal Political Coordinator to U.S. Rep. Richie Neal of the first district of Massachusetts. Twice, he chaired the REALTORS® Political Action Committee Trustees. And he was part of the presidential advisory group that reshaped NAR’s advocacy operations in 2010 to ensure they remained effective after the Citizens United Supreme Court decision.
“Kevin is great at meeting people and picking up the phone to call people. That’s why he’s done well in real estate. You treat people the way you want to be treated, and you give back. Those are the things our parents instilled in us.”
—Brian Sears, Kevin's brother
“My passion for advocacy . . . it’s just recognizing how important it is to have the conversations with the government decision makers—whether legislative or regulatory—about the importance of allowing people to freely buy, sell, lease and transfer real property,” he says. “Really, the mantra is ‘do no harm,’ especially when we represent nearly 20% of the GDP. And recognizing that there are advocates on the opposite side, we need to have good people advocating for our issues.”
Mike McDonagh, general counsel for Lamacchia Realty, is a former Massachusetts Association of REALTORS®’ general counsel and government affairs director. He says Sears was “never just on the committee because he got appointed to the committee. He was always about the substance. He cared about it, and he wanted to make a difference.”
Several years ago, for example, when Massachusetts was considering an energy-rating system for homes, Sears was there to talk with the state secretary of energy about why it would be detrimental to existing-home owners. When the state didn’t include real estate brokerage as an essential service during the March 2020 COVID-19 shutdown, he was on the phone with the lieutenant governor at the time, Karyn Polito, to say, “We need to be explicitly included. Right now, we have $7.4 billion of real estate sales pending in the Commonwealth. If you don’t deem us essential, that will vanish.”
MAR CEO Theresa Hatton, RCE, met Sears back in 2010 when she was serving as CEO of the Greenwich Association of REALTORS® in Connecticut. Even then, he had the makings of a national leader, she says. “He was very good at breaking down complex issues [and] helping members understand the different perspectives upon which policy decisions were made.”
Meeting Members Where They Are
As NAR president, Sears is putting those communication skills to the test. Since taking office Jan. 8, he has zig-zagged the country to speak at industry meetings, make podcast appearances, and record unscripted video updates for members he can’t reach face-to-face.
“It’s not just a company. He’s involved with the community. He loves the city of Springfield. He loves real estate.”
—Laura Ogoley, longtime colleague
He took a few days off in early March to spend time with his ailing father (“my first mentor, in life and business,” he says). Paul Sears passed away March 5 at age 86, just 10 days before NAR announced a proposed $418 million settlement agreement to end long-running class action litigation. By the time the settlement announcement came, on March 15, Sears was back on the job—explaining the settlement to members and the media and expressing optimism about the industry’s future.
“He has big shoulders,” says Molly, his wife of 27 years. “He’s also a steady presence to help lead REALTORS® through this very challenging time.”
Sears has earned props for the open way he addresses questions ranging from what’s happening with NAR’s culture transformation to why NAR went down the settlement path to “how are you promoting REALTOR® value?”
“The reason Kevin is so effective as a leader is he listens before he reacts,” says Ron Phipps, ABR, CRS, a Warwick, R.I., broker and NAR’s 2011 president. “Too many people already know what they’re going to say before they’ve even heard the question.”
And Sears is a straight shooter, says Dawn Ruffini, AHWD, RENE, a broker-owner from Wilbraham, Mass. When she was 2022 president of MAR, she says, “I knew I could call on Kevin and get a straight answer—not sugar-coated, just ‘this is what it is.’”
He doesn’t shy away from tough questions about the association’s past or its future. In fact, he’s known for asking tough questions himself. “If people are asking, that’s a good thing,” Sears says. “They’re giving you the opportunity to have the conversation.”
Along with the rest of the Leadership Team, he’s staying focused on keeping an open dialogue with members and addressing the priorities in front of NAR now:
- Giving REALTORS® the resources they need to successfully navigate the settlement-mandated practice changes that take effect Aug. 17.
- Keeping the association on track as the Nov. 26 hearing on final approval of the settlement approaches.
- Envisioning a leaner post-settlement NAR that continues to provide the tools, resources and advocacy that members need and expect.
He’s going to make sure we don’t get sidetracked,” Hatton says. “The most important project [of the NAR presidency] at this moment is to carry on the work of the association, make sure we stay focused on priorities, and help members succeed in today’s business environment. And he will not back down. He will communicate clearly on the strategies our members need to know most.”
A Very Early Start
Sears jokes that he was born into real estate and politics. His father started Sears Real Estate in 1971. It was November of that year—Election Day, to be precise—when his mother, Josephine, went into labor with the fourth of their six children. Paul, who happened to be running for re-election to the Springfield City Council, rushed home from the campaign trail to drive her to the hospital. “Did you vote?” he asked. She hadn’t, and so they made an extra stop. “To this day,” Sears says with a laugh, “no one knows whether my mom actually voted for my dad.”
“I ask my kids, ‘What is the largest room in the universe?’ It’s the room for improvement. We can all get better.”
—Kevin Sears
One of Sears’ earliest real estate memories is accompanying his father door to door as he collected rent payments. Inevitably, they’d be invited in to chat with the tenants. Sears, who shares Paul’s gregarious nature and ability to bond with all types of people, knew he’d like nothing better than to follow in his father’s footsteps.
In school, Sears excelled in sports, especially diving, which he started in sixth grade when his brother Patrick joined the high school diving team.
“When you compete on a team, you realize there’s something bigger than your-self. Bill Belichick’s ‘Do your job’—I really believe in that,” he says. “The success of any team is determined by the collective of each individual’s effort.”
“He would practice and practice,” recalls his younger brother, Brian. “My father used to take him down to New Haven, Conn., for extra practice. In his very first [high school] meet, he beat our older brother Pat’s high school record.” Eventually, Sears became a state champion and went on to compete as a Division I diver at Providence College.
Lessons in Humility
Once Sears obtained his real estate license, his father instructed him to go straight to the local association, REALTOR® Association of Pioneer Valley, and join three committees. Sears chose government affairs, education and community service.
“Government affairs quenched the thirst for political involvement,” he says, “but the community service committee gave me the opportunity to work shoulder-to-shoulder with other members in the soup kitchen or doing a Habitat build.” The work taught him humility, helped him build ties with other members that have served him well throughout his business, and honored his parents’ values.
“One thing my siblings and I learned from our parents was making sure that we give back,” says Sears, “whether it’s the neighborhood, the community, the school, our church or our industry.
Sears and his siblings—Josephine, Patrick, Paul, Brian, and Katie—had no better role models than mom and dad, whose marriage started with a major act of service.
Sears’ mom had attended Boston College, earning a degree in nursing. But her call to serve others was so strong, she chose a different path after graduation, traveling to rural New Mexico to volunteer for the newly formed Society of Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity mission. She contemplated becoming a nun, but in 1962, when her father was diagnosed with cancer, she returned to Springfield to care for him.
“After her father passed away, she intended to return to New Mexico,” Sears says. “My mother didn’t plan to fall in love.”
But a former elementary school classmate invited her to the state fair (the same place where Kevin and Molly met 25 years later). The rest, as they say, is history.
Sears’ dad—a graduate of Providence College with a master’s degree from Yale—had intended a career in chemistry. Instead, he followed his wife’s dream. The couple spent two years together teaching in New Mexico. Then they lived briefly in Kansas City, where their first child, Josephine, was born. When they returned to Springfield, Paul Sears took a position managing a new nonprofit, Micah Corporation, dedicated to expanding homeownership. Sears calls it “Habitat [for Humanity] before there was Habitat.”
Acclimating to Change
If there are three values that underpin Sears’ life, they are family, service and the Golden Rule. All three are woven into the company founded by Paul Sears.
“My father always impressed upon the agents in our office what it means to take care of your client,” Sears says. “It’s the REALTOR® Code of Ethics.”
The culture of care extended to agents and employees, too. “The longevity of our agents is a testament to the culture of the company. When they join us, they join for a reason: the family environment,” Sears says.
“It has always been an atmosphere that felt more like family than work,” says bookkeeper Laura Ogoley, who joined Sears Real Estate in 2002 after 22 years in banking. “That’s how they treat people. That’s how we all treat each other.”
Yet, as in his diving days, Sears is ever preparing for the challenges that lie ahead.
“Kevin has confidence in his skills—and a big heart for the Association.”
—Dawn Ruffini, Massachusetts broker and friend
In December, for the first time, he asked a buyer client to sign a written representation agreement: “I explained all the services that we provided and how much I was looking to get paid. At the end, the client said, ‘Kevin, that makes perfect sense.’ ” Sears talked over the experience with his partners—Brian and brother-in-law Dan Rodriguez—and in January, the company decided to begin requiring written buyer agreements. (NAR has long recommended getting written agreements with buyers, but it’s not required by Massachusetts law, he says. It becomes an NAR requirement Aug. 17.)
An even bigger change came in April, when Sears and his partners announced the sale of their two-office brokerage to Lamacchia Realty, a company with offices in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Maine and Florida. Sears, who has known broker-owner Anthony Lamacchia for about 15 years, says the acquisition will give Sears Real Estate the systems and technology it needs to thrive and grow.
The sale also gives him more freedom to focus on what is essentially a two-year presidency. He turns over the reins to his successor, Kevin Brown of Oakland, Calif., in November 2025.
It’s a pivotal time as NAR and its members implement practices changes, seek final approval of the settlement, consider expected recommendations of the Culture Transformation Commission, select a new CEO—NAR’s Interim CEO Nykia Wright has agreed to stay on through the end of 2024—and continue to map out the association’s future. Sears views these challenges collectively as a kind of passage that will lead to a new era of strength for the organization and its members. “One thing I know about REALTORS® is that we’re resilient. There’s no challenge we can’t overcome together.”
