Ginger Downs

Ginger Downs

CEO
Chicago Association of Realtors

After 12 years serving the Chicagoland market, and 34 years as a Realtor association manager, Ginger Downs knows that “it’s not for everyone, but it was just right for me, as I have a great love of all things real estate!”

Downs entered real estate as the comptroller for the Spokane Board of Realtors, then decided to focus on becoming a Realtor association executive. She has never looked back. Downs was named one of the Top 50 Power Women in Chicago Commercial Real Estate by BisNow in 2014, was named one of the Swanepoel Power 200 in 2015, and was voted “Association MVP” in Chicago Agent magazine’s Agents’ Choice Awards in 2011 and 2016.

At the Chicago Association of Realtors, Downs works with professionals ranging from first-year agents to experienced residential brokers, commercial Realtors and affiliated real estate businesses, but she also represents Realtor University, which offers a master’s degree in real estate. “Over 40 members have graduated with the MRE, including an international graduate, and we will now expand the program as well as explore the potential development of an undergraduate real estate degree program.”

Downs credits her success to some basic skills. “The skills necessary to be a successful association manager are those you would expect to find in a successful real estate managing broker — a visionary, customer-centric, organized, adaptable and with financial acumen,” she says. This past year, Downs helped her daughter navigate the purchase of her first home in the Portland area.

Though dedicated to her career, Downs has always made sure that spending time with her family has remained her top priority. She says she is also constantly learning and is an avid reader. Downs serves on the All Chicago Making Homelessness History board of directors, and actively supports the Goldie B. Wolfe Miller Women in Leadership Initiative Program.

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