HGAR Announces Its Realtor and Affiliate of the Year for 2014

White Plains, NY, November 01, 2014 --(PR.com)-- At its recent Annual Meeting, the Hudson Gateway Association of REALTORS® (HGAR) honored Carol Christiansen of Café Realty in Katonah as its REALTOR®of the Year for 2014. Richard O’Donnell, Property Tax Consultant in Scarsdale, was named as Affiliate Member of the Year.

Christiansen has been in real estate for almost 20 years and now owns her own brokerage. She has been actively involved in the Association for many years, serving as a member of the Board of Directors, as well as on several volunteer committees. In her local community, she is involved with “Drug Crisis in Our Backyard,” an organization dedicated to raising awareness, and providing education to families and individuals struggling with addiction.

O’Donnell has been a constant supporter of the Association and has also helped many HGAR members and their clients to save money on their real estate taxes.
Before opening his own business, he spent 28 years as the tax assessor for the Town of Eastchester, the Village of Tuckahoe and the Town of Mount Pleasant.

Other award winners included:
- Spirit Award: Kathy Milich of RE/MAX Benchmark Realty in New Windsor
- Extra Mile Awards: Jennifer Maher of J. Philip Real Estate, LLC in Briarcliff Manor and Russ Woolley, broker/owner of Wright Bros. Real Estate, Inc. in Nyack
- President’s Awards: Gail Fattizzi of Westchester Real Estate Inc. in Eastchester and Mike Gibbons of Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage in Dobbs Ferry
- Albert P. Schatz Legislative Advocacy Award: Ralph Ragette of Ragette Real Estate Inc. in Eastchester.

This year, the Association added a new award, the Stephanie Crispinelli Humanitarian Award, which honors an HGAR member who has made a significant impact on helping those in their local community and beyond. The Award was named for Stephanie Crispinelli, of Katonah, who died in an earthquake in Haiti while on a humanitarian mission. Her mother, Lin Crispinelli of Houlihan Lawrence in Somers, received this award for establishing “Stephanie’s Mission,” to help children and families throughout the world by building homes and schools, and supplying clothes and other necessities.

“We want to congratulate all of our award winners, and acknowledge each of them for their extraordinary contributions to this organization and to their communities,” said Richard Haggerty, HGAR CEO. “Their selfless volunteer work and ‘go-give’ attitude has continued to be an inspiration for us all.”

The Hudson Gateway Association of REALTORS® (HGAR) is a not-for-profit trade association covering over 9,000 real estate professionals doing business in the Bronx, Westchester, Putnam, Rockland, and Orange counties. HGAR is comprised of the former Westchester Putnam Association of REALTORS® (WPAR), Rockland County Board of REALTORS® (RCBR) and Orange County Association of REALTORS® (OCAR).