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NAR Presents Realtor® Bruce Aydt with Distinguished Service Award

WASHINGTON, DC – November 12, 2012 – (RealEstateRama) — Bruce Aydt, a Realtor® from the St. Louis, Mo., area, has received the National Association of Realtors® 2012 Distinguished Service Award. Out of 1 million Realtors®, no more than two are recognized with this award each year. The recipients were announced in Orlando today during NAR’s annual Realtors® Conference and Expo.

NAR established the DSA in 1979 to honor Realtors® who have made outstanding contributions to the real estate industry and are recognized as leaders in their local communities. The award is considered the highest honor an NAR member can receive; recipients must be active at the local, state and national association levels, but must not have served as NAR president. NAR President Moe Veissi presented the award to Aydt.

“Bruce’s leadership and hard work has greatly impacted NAR and the real estate industry,” said Veissi, broker-owner of Veissi & Associates Inc., in Miami. “He is truly deserving of this award. Bruce’s commitment to helping counsel, educate and train real estate professionals is a noteworthy endeavor that demonstrates the principle of service above self.”

Aydt is a second-generation Realtor® and has been in the management of real estate companies for 35 years. As senior vice president and general counsel for Prudential Alliance Realtors®, Aydt works daily to provide counsel and advice to real estate agents during transactions, as well as fill the role of the company’s risk manager, defending agents against legal claims. In addition, Aydt has a vibrant teaching and training business for a variety of real estate classes nationally, covering topics such as professional standards, mediation and risk management.

“I am tremendously grateful and honored to accept the Distinguished Service Award,” said Aydt. “My father, who was a Realtor®, instilled in me a sense of duty and obligation to give back to the industry that has been so generous to me during my lifetime. I’ve carried that belief with me throughout my Realtor® career and I’m proud to be a part of an organization that helps build strong communities and works toward improving people’s quality of life through homeownership.”

Aydt has served in a number of positions within the Realtor® community. He was appointed a committee liaison under three NAR presidents. Under 2006 NAR President Tom Stevens, Aydt served as committee liaison for the Information, Communications and Education Group. The previous year, in 2005, he was appointed committee liaison by NAR President Al Mansell to the Law and Policy Group. Aydt also served as a committee liaison to the same group under 2003 NAR President Cathy Whatley. In addition, Aydt chaired or vice-chaired five major NAR committees and subcommittees including the Legislative Work Group, Risk Management Committee, Legal Action Committee, and Professional Standards Committee. Aydt has chaired and vice-chaired six task forces or work groups and has served on four key Presidential Advisory Groups.

On the state and local level Aydt is active and involved in his Realtor® associations. He served as president for both the St. Louis Association of Realtors® and the Missouri Association of Realtors®. Aydt was also named Realtor® of the Year for both associations. While on the leadership team at his state association between 2004 and 2007, Aydt was part of a complete renovation of the association’s 20 year-old headquarters building. In 1990 as president of his local association, Aydt led the association in changing its name from the Real Estate Board of Metropolitan St. Louis to the St. Louis Association of Realtors® – that was one of the first years it was possible for associations to use the word “association” in their name.

In addition to real estate, Aydt also has a passion for training and education. Every year he visits anywhere from seven to 15 states teaching professional standards, mediation, risk management and GRI and ABR courses to Realtors®. He is a co-trainer for NAR’s Mediation Training Seminar. Aydt has helped train more than 1,000 Realtors® in the past 12 years to serve their local and state association members in mediation as NAR’s preferred dispute resolution system. For 18 years Aydt has also served as a co-trainer for NAR’s Professional Standards Education Seminar. With NAR Board Policy staff and co-trainers, he presents an advanced professional standards seminar to Realtors® and association staff members. Aydt has taught more than 500 classes and estimates to have taught more than 20,000 Realtors® in his teaching career.

Aydt is a co-author and founding partner of the Seller Representative Specialist (SRS) designation. SRS has a cadre of national instructors in both the U.S. and Canada and fills a need in the real estate business for specialized seller agency education. More than 5,500 Realtors® have taken the SRS designation course since it began almost six years ago.
Aydt has been married to his wife, Lisa, for nearly 32 years and has two grown daughters, Erin and Jamie.

The National Association of Realtors®, “The Voice for Real Estate,” is America’s largest trade association, representing 1 million members involved in all aspects of the residential and commercial real estate industries.

Information about NAR is available at www.realtor.org. This and other news releases are posted in the “News, Blogs and Video” tab on the website.

Media Contact:
Leanne Jernigan / 202-383-1290