Christine Winans

A PATH PAVED WITH GREAT POTENTIAL AND POSSIBILITY

By Jane K. Asher, Ph.D.

Photos by Sasha Marceta with Skyview Experts

Christine Winans’ personal and professional path was paved by the guidance and inspiration of many strong women who cultivated her knowledge, skills, positive mindset, drive and work ethic. As a result, Chris thrived as a working mom in a variety of careers and leadership roles, including sales, management and executive director positions, before she entered real estate — her third major career — in 2003.

Growing up in Detroit, Chris was influenced by her mother, who got divorced in the 1960s and raised four children, ages 4-14, by herself, while also working hard to build a 30-year career at Comerica, where she started as a teller and rose up the ranks to a bank manager.

After graduating from Southfield- Lathrup High School, Chris continued her education as a music major at Oakland University; however, she realized she did not want to perform or teach music, so she then transferred to Michigan State University where she pursued a degree in TV and radio, met her husband, and, as a result of her job at WILS radio in Lansing, discovered how much she loved working.

In addition to being raised by a hardworking single mom, Chris was surrounded by strong, female entrepreneurs during her first major career at Entertainment Publications, publishers of the popular coupon books, where she worked for 16 years and eventually became the District Manager of the Detroit sales operation.

Chris, who served on the Birmingham Bloomfield Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors for several years while working at Entertainment Publications, embarked on her second major career in 1996 when she became the executive director of what is now the Birmingham Bloomfield Chamber. Chris traces her political prowess to her grandmother, Lois Nair, who ran for a Republican seat in Michigan’s 14th Congressional District in 1958, 1960 and 1962 as one of two female congressional candidates in the U.S. Inspired by her grandmother and fueled by her drive to make a positive impact on the community, Chris led the chamber’s growth from 250 to 650 members over the course of the eight years she served as executive director.

After becoming more politically active and running for Michigan State Representative in the 2002 primary, Chris grew increasingly frustrated by the anti-development agenda of Birmingham leadership and decided that it was time to seek a new career. So, when Ronni Keating with Snyder Kinney Bennett & Keating Real Estate — now Signature Sotheby’s — reached out to Chris and suggested real estate, Chris enthusiastically embarked on a third successful career, in which she has now sold over $161 million in the past 17 years.

Chris started her real estate career with Weir Manuel. In 2006, she moved to Hannett Wilson & Whitehouse — now Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices HWWB, REALTORS® — and teamed up with her husband, Dan Winans, who got his license after retiring from his 30-year career at Xerox. Chris has distinguished her success in the industry by receiving the Chairman’s Circle Gold Award from 2012-2020, the BHHS 5-Year Legend Award from 2013-2018 and the title of Hour Detroit Real Estate All-Star from 2013-2020. She was also named “Business Woman of the Year” by the Women’s Council of REALTORS® Birmingham-Bloomfield in 2008.

“This is my last career — I will always be a real estate agent,” Chris said. “I am fortunate that my daughter, Regan, has joined me in real estate and is, perhaps, my retirement plan. … if I ever do retire … frankly, Regan doesn’t think I will ever retire.”

Chris’ daughter, Regan Gilshire, who had been living in Ohio for 10 years and had established her career in office and sales management, moved back to Michigan and joined The Winans Real Estate Team in 2012. Regan initially came on board as the team’s assistant, but after about a year, she decided to get her real estate license and embark on a new career as the team’s buyer’s agent.

In May 2020, The Winans Real Estate Team moved to Real Living Kee Realty in Troy, and Real Estate Agent Joe Miller, Regan’s close friend, joined the team. “Honesty and ethics are the backbones of our business,” Chris said. “We all want the same thing: to close every transaction smoothly and successfully.”

As a child, Regan remembers going into the office with her mom and helping her collate or stuff envelopes. “My mother was the epitome of the 80s working mom — I saw my mom giving 110% at all times in her work,” Regan said. “My mother didn’t influence my professional path as much as she influenced my work ethic: I started working at a small diner in Northville when I was 15, and at 19, I became her assistant when she was the executive director of the Birmingham Bloomfield Chamber of Commerce. I often joke that she had me to have the perfect assistant one day.”

All joking aside, Regan, who is now at the age when her friends are losing their grandparents and parents, knows how blessed she is to see her mother and father on a daily basis. “Yes, my mom is a workaholic, but she’s always there when I need her ... and that is the best thing any mother can do,” Regan said.

Much like how Chris’ mother and grandmother shaped her path and inspired her to seize life’s many opportunities, Regan says that her mother has always encouraged her to take risks, go out in the world and experience as much as possible. “She also taught me the importance of charity and kindness,” Regan said. Chris and Regan are both members of the Rotary Club of Birmingham — Chris is a past-president, and Regan is the current treasurer. “I’m proud to say that I am a third-generation female Rotarian, which is rare since women were only permitted into Rotary in 1987. My maternal grandmother was the first to join a Rotary club, then my mother in the late 90s, and then me in 2014,” Regan said.

In their free time, Chris and Dan like to escape to the house they built on La Salle Island in the Upper Peninsula. Chris loves to fish, read business and personal improvement books — she belongs to Books & Bubbly, a book club comprised of real estate agents, which is organized by Brenda Brosnan and supported by Summit Funding, Inc. — and spend time with her family. Her son, Peter, and his wife, Kristen, and Chris’ four grandchildren live in the Baltimore area. “It’s been difficult to physically see them over the past year, so we have lived in a Zoom life,” Chris said. “I am looking forward to having the grandkids visit in the summer.”

Chris knows that balancing motherhood and a successful career is no easy feat and that her husband was — and is — instrumental in all of her accomplishments. “A career is a choice I made many years ago with the support of Dan from the very beginning — I thank my husband and my children for helping me make it a successful choice,” Chris said. “It really is a partnership, and I don’t know if I could ever have done this without Dan’s support. We split our responsibilities — yes, Dan did laundry and I cooked. … I think I know every recipe that can be made in 30 minutes or less.”

Chris also acknowledges that motherhood today is much more challenging than it was when she entered the workforce as a working mom. “I am not sure I could have been successful in today’s world,” she said. “My best advice for working moms is to breathe and stop trying — it is going to be what it is.”

Agent Spotlight - Christine Winans