Issuu

INITE BROKERAGE, INDEPENDENTLY OWNED AND OPERATED

AL ORLANDO

Royal LePage Real Estate Services Toronto, ON

AMANDA MAGEE

Stewart Title Guaranty Company Vancouver, BC

Amanda Magee left a career in lending to join Stewart Title, one of the world’s leading title insurers, 13 years ago. As the director of business development for Western Canada, she has been instrumental in not only growing business in the region but also educating legal and real estate professionals about the insurance issues facing them and their clients. “When we started offering title insurance, not a lot of people knew what it was or how it could be used to facilitate closing a deal,” Magee says. ”Now, 20 years later, our Canadian clients have come to rely on our expertise in the industry and the coverage our policies provide.” Title insurance has become an issue for real estate agents who find themselves involved in unique or challenging transactions, many involving title or survey defects. Magee says Stewart Title is able to step in and provide guidance when these situations arise. “We excel at working creatively to come up with underwriting solutions to assist in getting those deals done, big or small,” Magee says.

After selling real estate for 16 years, Al Orlando was ready for a change. “I just wanted a little bit of stability,” says the manager of Royal LePage Real Estate Services. “I wanted to be in training and mentoring and running a brokerage. I was more interested in that at that point in my life.” Orlando was recently named Royal LePage’s Manager of the Year, an honour bestowed for his success in improving per-person productivity among his group’s 1,000 agents and increasing the company’s market share. Orlando, a former TREB vice president deeply involved with the group’s work around professional standards, says increasing professionalism and market knowledge among agents has been central to enhancing their performance. Orlando says community involvement has been critical to increasing market share. One successful initiative has been an annual golf tournament, which has helped raise over $95,000 for the Royal LePage Shelter Foundation over the past six years.

SANDRA WEBB Royal LePage of Canada Toronto, ON

Since 2005, Royal LePage has doubled the size of its business and tripled its revenues. Instrumental in that staggering growth has been Sandra Webb, the company’s senior vice president of marketing and communications. Her public relations strategy in 2016 generated 2.3 billion impressions, 60% more than Royal LePage’s nearest competitor. Under Webb’s guidance, Royal LePage has grown in the eyes of the Canadian public to become an industry thought leader. Whether through its various market reports, media appearances or the ubiquity of its CEO, Royal LePage has become synonymous with education and advocacy. “That’s the cornerstone of what we do,” she says. Webb was at the forefront of Royal LePage’s first foray into providing web tools for agents and consumers almost two decades ago. She is now tasked with strengthening the profile of a 104-year-old Canadian institution. “We are now the stewards,” she says, “the people who have to continue building this great brand.”