Editorial
Front Page - Monday, September 14, 2009
Faulkner County EO survived cancer and found her dream job
Ethan C. Nobles
Special to the Daily Record ecnobles@att.net
Connie Briggler, like a lot of executive officers for local boards of Realtors, had previous experience in the real estate industry.
Prior to becoming the executive officer for the Faulkner County Board of Realtors 5 1/2 years ago, she worked for five years as an executive assistant for Glenda Hoyt with Century 21 in Conway.
While working for Hoyt, Briggler was diagnosed with breast cancer. She survived and her cancer is in remission, but Briggler found it necessary to leave Hoyt’s office so she could have a steady paycheck.
She spent about 10 years in the banking industry, so Briggler went back into that. After about a year, she learned the position at the Faulkner County Board had opened. Hoyt – who clearly understood why Briggler found it was necessary to leave Century 21 – was president of the board the time and asked Briggler if she’d be interested in taking the executive officer job.
“She understood why I had to do what I had to do,” Briggler said of Hoyt’s reaction to her leaving Century 21.
Briggler said she’s glad Hoyt called her about the job with the Faulkner County Board.
“I thoroughly love my job,” she said.
Briggler said one of the things she enjoys the most about her job is meeting Realtors in her own board and real estate professionals around the country as she’s sent for various seminars and training events.
“I get to meet people all over the United States,” she said. “How many people get to do that? I meet these people and I learn so much from them.”
Briggler said a good number of those seminars – many of which focus on ways that executive officers can do their jobs more effectively – are very important.
“I don’t think you ever quit learning and the day that you do is the day I need to leave my job,” she said, adding that a lot of those training sessions help her pick up new procedures and implement new plans that make her board better and stronger.
Besides, getting to travel with other executive officers in Arkansas has been a lot of fun for Briggler.
“I have made some really good, good friends with the other EOs in our state,” she said.
She said a lot of Realtors in her board have made friends over the years, too.
“I really think that most all of our Realtors – even though they’re with different companies – work together,” Briggler said. “I know that if any Realtor from any other company has a problem or needs something everyone will come to their aid and be there for them. That, to me, is very unique.”
She said the 276 members in the Faulkner County Board have participated in a number of events, from raising money for Habitat for Humanity and Special Olympics Arkansas to helping clean trash out of neighborhoods, that improve their community.
That kind of charitable work, she said, is related to the attitude a lot of Realtors have – “I live here, too, and I want to make things better.”
Briggler said some of the Realtors in her board were concerned that their ranks would thin considerably this year based on reports of slumping housing markets across the nation. The Conway market, she said, has held up this year and people are still signing up as Realtors.
“Everyone was so worried at the first of the year that we were going to lose members,” Briggler said. “We lost a few, but we haven’t lost that many. We’re still signing up members left and right.”
Briggler said the Faulkner County Board had a part in that as the group bought a lot of advertising to get the word out that the area is different from the rest of the nation. Real estate markets may have dropped considerably in some parts of the country, but Faulkner County has held up well enough. That message, she said, has gotten the attention of both the public and potential Realtors.
She said a lot of people choose real estate for a career because they like the flexibility that comes with setting their own schedules, enjoy working for themselves and like helping people.
“What better thing is there to do than say, ‘I helped that person get their first home?’” Briggler asked.
Briggler and her husband, Ronnie, live in Conway, as do their two children, Sharon and Edward, who is married to
Siri.
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