William Raveis' first Convention and Expo a huge success

Over 1,300 top real estate professionals from across the Northeast gathered for William Raveis Real Estate, Mortgage & Insurance's first Convention & Expo. From April 23-25, members of William Raveis Real Estate, Mortgage & Insurance networked with top industry thought leaders and vendors, creating a unique group of highly successful professionals. "After months of planning, seeing the Convention come together in such an effective and professional manner was overwhelming, in the best way," said William Raveis, president and chief executive officer ofWilliam Raveis Real Estate, Mortgage & Insurance. "Every piece of feedback I've received has been extremely positive, and I'm tremendously proud of everyone involved in the planning and execution of the event." Keynote speakers included award-winning speaker and philosopher Matthew Ferrara of Matthew Ferrara and Company, chief economist and senior vice president of Research at the National Association of Realtors Dr. Lawrence Yun and executive vice president for Luxury Portfolio International Stephanie Pfeffer. Additionally, the Convention featured sessions with award-winning, bestselling author and social media strategist Kathryn Rose and award-winning real estate coach and trainer Suzanne Getz. Throughout the conference, attendees were afforded the opportunity to attend educational breakout sessions on next-generation listing presentations, building a winning team, winning the exceptional properties listing and the power of video marketing, among dozens of other topics. "Our focus was to create an atmosphere of learning, networking, recognition and fun for all of our William Raveis business family attendees," said Bill Gamelli, senior vice president of customer services and 2013 Convention chairman. "Mohegan Sun was a perfect destination and many brought spouses or significant others to join in the celebration." Grand Sponsor William Raveis Mortgage led an extensive list of sponsors and exhibitors including Bigfoot Communications, CoreLogic, Impact Marketing Specialists, People's United Bank, William RaveisInsurance, The Kelsey Company, SWAT Environmental and Advanced Computer Technologies. The last night of the Convention was rounded out by the 39th Annual William Raveis Awards, an event which recognizes the leaders in the company's real estate, mortgage, insurance, title and administrative divisions. Among the winners for Real Estate, Jean Ruggiero (Greenwich, Conn.) and Al Filippone (Fairfield, Conn.) were named the Top Producers by Volume for an individual and team, respectively, and David Friend (Hingham and Scituate, Mass.) and Rick Dressler (Glastonbury and Simsbury, Conn.) were named the Managers of the Year. For Mortgage, Pete Fickeisen (Boston, Mass.) was named the Top Producer by Volume, and for Insurance, Heidi Summa (West Hartford, Conn.) was named the Top Sales Director. Lastly, Gail Sweetman, director of career development, was named Entrepreneur of the Year. William Raveis is currently working to plan 2014's Convention & Expo, which will aim to celebrate the company's 40th Anniversary.