By Fred Seely

Editor

ORLANDO - It was a gala occasion for the Davis family, which turned out along with NEFAR leaders to welcome the state’s newest president from this area.

With dozens of friends and family cheering him on, Watson Realty’s Wendell Davis was installed last month to lead Florida Realtors in its 96th year.

And he quickly challenged leaders of the state association - Florida’s largest of any profession - to get closer to its membership and to strengthen the profession’s brand among consumers.

Davis was installed in an impressive three-hour celebration at the Renaissance Orlando Resort as the association concluded its annual Mid-Winter Meetings.

“I have four goals for us,” said Davis. “We must educate and endow our members, we must connect with our members, we must raise the visibility of the individual Realtor and the Florida Realtors brand, and we must encourage our members to do their part in public policy.”

Davis, a broker and regional vice president of the Jacksonville-based real estate firm, was surrounded by family and friends - and even a former college football coach - and the evening became a Northeast Florida affair.

The family led the Pledge of Allegiance, a dozen or so taking the stage along with the family patriarch, and former state presidents Russell Grooms (Watson Realty) and Cathy Whatley (Buck and Buck) had prominent roles as the state officers and committee leaders were installed before about 500 at the banquet.

The association is struggling to get its new, year-old name (the legal name remains Florida Association of Realtors, but the DBA is the public face) across as more than just a generic term. That will be one of Davis’s challenges in the year ahead, as well as keeping the association on course to serve its 115,000 members.

In his acceptance speech, he sounded like the football coach he once was.

“I’ve seen it all, or I think I have, and I think the most powerful motivator on earth is the human soul on fire,” he told the 500-plus in the ballroom. “In a word: passion.

“It is critical that you bring passion to your profession this year.”

The evening had the same upbeat tone and there were no references to the continuing slump in the real estate market where Realtors are battling tightened consumer belts as well as an aging inventory of homes to sell.

Davis was lauded by numerous speakers as a man to lead the way.

‘“Wendell is our coach,” said President-elect Pat Fitzgerald of Jupiter. “When we have a meeting, you know that he’s the man who will lead.”

And his employer, Watson Realty Chairman Bill Watson, said, “If you have Wendell Davis, you have a loyal leader.”

In addition to wife Jackie and their three children, the head table included Tom Moore, who was head coach at The Citadel when Davis was an assistant coach.

“He hasn’t lost the fire,” said Moore. “He’s a leader, and everyone seems to know it.”