Name

Ben Martin, CAE - VA Assn of REALTORS®

Company

Virginia Association of REALTORS®

E-mail

Contact Ben Martin, CAE - VA Assn of REALTORS® (Virginia Association of REALTORS®)

Website

http://varbuzz.com

Description

Commentary about the real estate biz and REALTORS® from a social media evangelist at the Virginia Association of REALTORS®

About me:

Ben Martin is an association executive with ten years experience in membership, marketing, communications, chapter relations, and volunteer management, in state, national and international trade and individual membership organizations. He is currently the Director of Communications & New Media for the Virginia Association of REALTORS® in Richmond. As the author of one of the association profession's most popular blogs, he is frequently asked to write and speak on association management topics. An aspiring "geek," one of Ben's proudest accomplishments is being able to say "just Google me" when people ask where they can find him on the web.

As Director of Communications & New Media, Ben leads marketing, communications, social media and other member-facing association activities for Virginia's 33,000 REALTORS®.

Areas of Expertise

Ben's participation in the social web dates back over ten years, when he first joined listservs and online bulletin boards. Since then, Ben has been an active participant in and leader of many virtual communities. He launched the Certified Association Executive blog in 2004 to document his road to earning the CAE designation, which was one of the first to attract a wide readership among not-for-profit executives, and it remains one of the most popular association blogs to this day. He is an early adopter of new media, including photoblogging, podcasting, videoblogging and text messaging. You can find Ben in some of the web's most popular hangouts like LinkedIn, Flickr, Twitter, Facebook and all around the blogosphere.
 
His many contributions to the association community have been recognized through a number of awards from regional and national organizations. In 2003, Ben was awarded the Greater Washington Society of Association Executives' (GWSAE) Most Valuable Player award. In 2004, he launched the Certified Association Executive blog, won the Banff Scholarship for Emerging Leaders from the Center for Association Leadership, was named a GWSAE rising star, and was appointed to ASAE & The Center's Membership Section Council. He earned the CAE designation in 2005. Ben was selected in 2006 as one of two association executives to write for Acronym, ASAE & The Center's official blog, and coordinated Research in Action, a sixteen-week virtual discussion of the eight super-trends identified in Mapping the Future of Your Association, ASAE & The Center's most recent environmental scanning report. In 2007, he was appointed chair of the Virginia Society of Association Executives' CAE Committee, named vice-chair of ASAE & The Center's Membership Section council, and was published in the Winter 2007 edition of the Journal of Association Leadership.

Testimonials

"Ben advised me as I launched my association's first blog. He offered me some critical suggestions for improving its functionality and effectiveness. I find Ben's understanding of new technologies and social networking tools and their application to the association business to be sharp and insightful." April 20, 2007 by Scot McRoberts, Executive Director, Virginia Council of CEOs

"I have known Ben for awhile now, but more recently, we have had some great conversations that ranged from social media strategy, leadership to parenting. Ben is a very smart guy who has been a trendsetter in the social media arena for associations. If you have ever read his Blog, you know what I mean. Keep up the great work Ben!" August 1, 2007 by Joe Grant, Independent Consultant, Self-employed