Don Richardson, March 2002
To celebrate 25 years of serving Canada’s real estate community, REM asked a small group of real estate leaders this question:
“Who had the biggest impact – good or bad – on Canadian real estate in the last 25 years?
This is not a popularity contest or a marketing exercise. We want to know who you think had the biggest impact on the industry in the last 25 years – even if it was, in your opinion, a negative impact. Your choices could include Realtors, company executives, association executive officers, regulators, service company executives….even politicians! Who has had the most impact during the last 25 years in making the industry what it is today?”
REM took those consensus picks and added our own and the results will be revealed on REM online every day until the end of June. Take a look and see if you agree with these choices, and then let us know who we missed. Add your comments below or drop an email to [email protected].
Don Richardson
Don Richardson, CEO of the Toronto Real Estate Board (TREB) is retiring this month after 14 years at the board and 20 years before that at the Ontario Real Estate Association. He entered the industry as a sales rep in 1971.
“The tireless, behind-the-scenes work of this quiet, unassuming leader has resulted in countless advancements that will benefit Canadian real estate professionals for many years to come,” says Hugh Foy, TREB’s director of commercial and members development.
“As director of education for OREA during the ʼ70s and ʼ80s, Don was instrumental in enhancing the courses required to become a salesperson in Ontario,” says Foy. “Don’s vision also influenced the adoptions of the RECO Code of Ethics, preventing duplication with the CREA Code of Ethics. RECO’s 24 Continuing Education credit requirement was implemented with his input, which emphasized increasing value and professionalism through a straightforward, achievable process for real estate practitioners.”
When Richardson came to the Toronto Real Estate Board it was in turmoil, as REM reported in September 2000. The immediate past-president was “removed from his position as a director and had his board membership revoked, following revelations of expense account over-expenditures, police investigations and infighting on TREB’s Board of Directors that spilled over into the local media,” REM reported.
Foy says Richardson’s leadership “helped to re-focus TREB, resulting in a thriving, progressive organization that has offered its insight and experience to other boards throughout Canada.
“Don’s fourth major contribution involved a challenge initiated against TREB by the Competition Bureau,” says Foy. “Don demonstrated extraordinary leadership and dedication in this matter, the outcome of which is as yet unknown.”
CREB CEO Alan Tennant says Richardson was “seen by many of us outside of Ontario as the savior who could calm the TREB waters…and he was. One of the most thoughtful and articulate leaders I’ve ever come across.”
