Tonya Corder will be the first sole president of MORe.

By Natalie Terchek

The Mainstreet Organization of Realtors (MORe) has appointed Tonya Corder, managing broker of Keller Williams Preferred Realty in Orland Park, as its new president for the coming year.

Corder says she plans to build on the momentum of the 2011 merger with the Realtors Association of Northwest Chicagoland that made MORe the largest local association in the state and the fourth largest in the nation.

Tonya Corder – New President of MORe

“The merger has been a resounding success, but my goal now is to move forward as one organization,” said Corder, also noting the burgeoning opportunity provided by a housing market that is on the road to recovery.

Corder, who will serve as the first sole president of the unified association, started her real estate career in 1994 as a Realtorswith Century 21 Dabbs in Homewood. Previously, she worked as vice president at the global insurance brokerage firm Marsh & McLennan in Chicago.

Corder has been able to draw on her business acumen, as well as her many years of experience to help the nearly 150 agents in her office navigate today’s complex real estate market. She has also served on the Illinois Association of RealtorsBusiness Diversity Committee, and as president of the Women’s Council of RealtorsS/SW chapter. She began her involvement with MORe in 1999.

Corder to Focus on Diversity

As president of MORe, Corder also has an interest in promoting increased diversity in the organization and the industry. She plans to create a diversity task force and recruit a wider range of candidates to the organization’s leadership program.

“We are a geographically diverse association that serves hundreds of suburban Chicago communities from the Wisconsin border down to Indiana,” she said. “I would like to also find more ways to promote diversity in culture, ethnicity and age.”