Speakers

Pamela Benson Owens is the President and CEO of Edge of Your Seat Consulting, Inc and is also serving as the CEO of Six Square. For 25+ years Pam has owned Edge of Your Seat Consulting, a unique consulting firm that is dedicated to assisting for-profit, nonprofit, and faith-based entities. The major focus of Edge of Your Seat Consulting, Inc., is to provide methodologies that help manage perceptions and narratives about complex and challenging issues with courage and strategic passion.

Pam leverages humor and honest storytelling to create memorable and applicable strategies for sustainable and substantive change. She serves the community in a variety of capacities with the intentional motive of building a stronger and more equitable community.

Pam serves on several non-profit boards, is the co-chair of the Black Fund a partnership with Austin Community Foundation, joyfully serves on the faculty of the Center for Nonprofit Excellence at Austin Community College, is often a guest lecturer at institutions of higher learning and thrives on the opportunities her consultancy work paves the way to assist organizations to be stronger by navigating the nuances of organizational culture.

She is a proud Texas A&M Aggie where she earned a degree in Journalism and a certification in Diversity Education and completed her graduate work at St. Edward's University with a master’s in human services with a concentration in Conflict Resolution/Mediation. Pam has also completed coursework at Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary, a certification in DEI from Cornell, is a self-professed book nerd and lifelong learner, and has most recently launched a new business with all four members of her family called 4 The Culture Coffee- an online coffee shop that directs a percentage of the proceeds back to BIPOC nonprofit organizations in the Central Texas region. She resides in Austin with her spouse, Arlyn, and two exceptionally amazing kids, Preston, and Allyson.

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Janice Carpio-Hernandez, APR, is the Vice President of Communications & Marketing for the San Antonio Board of REALTORS® which currently serves over 14,000 members. Prior to SABOR, Janice spent years leading communication efforts in school districts and non-profits. She also worked in television news as a reporter, anchor and weather caster.

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Prior to serving as NVR CD, Eckles served as the Managing Editor and Sports Editor for the Sparks Tribune for 18 years. The Oregon native is a University of Idaho graduate and avid sports fan.

I came to the Association after 25 years in retail, where I focused on new business development and crisis management. I started my career with the REALTOR® community in January 2019 and have served in a variety of positions during this time. I currently serve as Vice-President of Operations for our recently restructured Association for a team of 10 who serve more than 3,500 members in Northern Nevada. Part of my duties include the overall communications of the Association. I work directly with the CEO to ensure that Association communication strategies support our mission and vision and align with the directives of NAR. I recently became a first-time homebuyer, so my spare time is spent on home projects. Currently we are re-landscaping our property to create a pollinator garden.

Lara Hollers is an award-winning communicator, speaker, and consultant based in Austin, Texas. Over her more than 25-year career, she has worked on practically every side of communications—from leading in-house creative teams to serving a diverse portfolio of clients.

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Emily Hroblak is the Communications Coordinator for the Longleaf Pine REALTORS® serving eastern North Carolina. She has been working for the last three years on creating seamless and sustainable marketing that helps grow engagement and member connectivity.

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Public relations expert Molly McPherson knows how to handle a crisis. Molly served in the external affairs office at the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) where she introduced the agency's first digital media efforts in response to the public backlash from the Hurricane Katrina response. As Director of Communications for the Cruise Line International Association in Arlington, Virginia, Molly handled the official media responses to maritime security during the 9/11 attacks and the norovirus outbreak on cruise ships in 2002. Molly is the host of the Indestructible PR Podcast, bestselling author of the book Indestructible: Reclaim Control and Respond with Confidence in a Media Crisis, and creator of a popular TikTok account that makes PR crises easy to follow and easy to avoid. This year she was Adweek's Creative Visionary Award Winner as the Careers Creator of the Year.

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Kristi Olds is the Communications Director and CTR.tv Host for CT REALTORS®, the largest trade association in Connecticut. Kristi is an award-winning journalist, having spent nearly 20 years as a local TV reporter and anchor. She joined CT REALTORS® in 2018 and now oversees the association's content creation, outside partnerships and media relations.

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Cristina Schaefer is the Director of Social Media for the Houston Association of REALTORS®, Host of the HAR On The Move Podcast, and Host of the award-winning Member Focus Monday Facebook Live Show. In addition to managing marketing campaigns and day-to-day activities of all HAR social media accounts, Cristina travels for speaking engagements and conducts a variety of classes where she gets to share her passion for technology tools and social media marketing with REALTORS® all over Texas. In her "spare time," Cristina can be found volunteering with the Arthritis Foundation and making memories with her husband Bill, and daughter Cadence.

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Shelby Sharron is the Senior Communications Specialist for the Austin Board of REALTORS® and previously worked at the Portland Metropolitan Association of REALTORS® as their Communications Specialist.

Jeff Turner specializes in helping technology startups understand and navigate the complexities of the North American real estate market. He is also an internationally recognized speaker on topics at the intersection of technology trends and human behavior.

As founder & CEO, Jeff led the digital media firm, J.J. Grace, onto Inc. Magazine’s list of the 500 Fastest-Growing Companies. He entered the real estate space in 2002 with his founding of the Real Estate Shows virtual tour platform. Since that launch he has served as a Founder, President, or CEO of multiple real estate technology companies, including Australia-based RealSatisfied, acquired by Placester in 2016, and Immoviewer, a world leader in virtual tours founded in Potsdam, Germany.

Jeff is currently a partner at KTK Partners (Tangilla), Entrepreneur In Residence for Second Century Ventures and its REACH accelerator, and is a strategic advisor to real estate technology startups in France, Germany, Sweden, and Australia.

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Meghan is the VP of Communication for the Charleston Trident Association of Realtors in Charleston, SC. She leads their communications team to implement data-driven communications initiatives to the Association's membership base of over 7,000. Born and raised in Orange County, California, Meghan moved south to study Communications at the College of Charleston where she fell in love with the city and its endless roster of top-notch restaurants. She currently lives on Johns Island with her sons and springer doodle puppy.