Ginger Downs

RCE, CAE, CIPS, IOM
Chief Executive Officer
Chicago Association of REALTORS®

Ever the innovator, Ginger Downs rounds out nearly a decade as the chief executive officer of the Chicago Association of REALTORS® (C.A.R.) by revamping the group’s strategic direction. She’s spearheading the major project with C.A.R. leadership and its Young Professionals Network (YPN).

“Think ‘recalibration,’” Downs says. “We are looking at all of our core services, including advocacy, events and education, and rethinking priorities and ways to deliver those services.”

It’s the same focus and determination that motivates Downs to share her passion by volunteering on the real estate advisory boards for DePaul University, Roosevelt University and REALTOR® University, where she serves as treasurer.

In 2014, Downs took on the additional role of president of All Chicago, a collaborative partnership of the Chicago Alliance to End Homelessness and The Emergency Fund. All Chicago unites the community and resources to provide solutions that ensure and sustain the stability of home.

Downs works to spark that volunteer passion in others.

“I encourage members to carve out time outside their day-to-day work to volunteer toward other causes,” she says. “In this way, we are mobilizing volunteerism to make our communities a better place – and no one does that better than REALTORS®.”

Downs is active on the national stage as well, where her contributions in the REALTOR® association world help shape many of the offerings fellow association executives and their boards implement across the country.