Keynote Speakers

Dirk Zeller                                                                                                                          Raising Agent Production In A Changing Marketplace    

As an Agent who rose to the top of the real estate field quickly, Dirk Zeller has been on a meteoric rise since he began his career in 1990. Throughout his real estate career, Dirk was recognized numerous times as one of the leading Agents in North America. Dirk has been described by many industry insiders as the most successful Agent in terms of high production with life balance. Prior to his real estate career, Dirk was a professional racquetball player for four years. Through one-on-one racquetball competition, he forged a winning attitude and winning habits. Dirk’s competitive strategies on the racquetball court translated to big success in selling real estate.           

The creation and perfection of the Four-Day Workweek Sales Success System™ has been Dirk’s passion. After pouring tremendous amounts of time and resources into this system of true life-balance, it is now a reality for Agents. Dirk is teaching, speaking, and coaching Agents across North America to massive increases in production, while attaining life balance. This quality and balance of life is the focus of his company, Real Estate Champions.        

Dirk has created revolutionary programs for the real estate sales industry. The Tools & Tactics Every REALTOR® MUST Know To Survive In Today’s Changing Market™ gives sales people the skills to survive and thrive in any sales environment. His Convert and Commit The Buyer – Every time™program breaks down buyer conversion into an easy-to-implement process for everyone – every time!

His Positioning Yourself As THE Marketplace Expert™ program puts your Agents in the forefront of their market and at an advantage above all other agents. Dirk is one of the most published authors in success and sales training in the real estate industry with over 250 published articles to his credit. His “Coaches Corner” weekly newsletter has over 200,000 subscribers. His first book, Your First Year in Real Estate, quickly became the most widely read “how to” book for beginning Agents. He was also selected as THE “Dummies® Author” for his book Success as a Real Estate Agent For Dummies®, which was released June 19th, 2006 with Telephone Sales for Dummies® released Fall 2007. He has two other books to his credit, The Champion Real Estate Agent and The Champion Real Estate Team.        

Dirk is CEO of Real Estate Champions, the premier coaching company in the real estate industry. The company was founded to provide real tools and strategies that real estate Agents and Managers can use to increase their wealth in their business and personal life.

Bruce Zipf
President and Chief Executive Officer - NRT LLC                                                            Change is Inevitable…Growth is Optional So Where Do We Go From Here?

Bruce Zipf was named president and chief executive officer for NRT in 2005. In this capacity, he focuses on guiding the strategic direction of the organization, including the company's finance, acquisitions, marketing, legal and human resources functions.

Prior to assuming his current role, Bruce held the role of president and chief operating officer, where he was responsible for the business operations of NRT's local operating companies, concentrating on the organization's day-to-day responsibilities. He also previously served as executive vice president and chief administrative officer for NRT, and headed a region that spanned from Boston to Atlanta.

Before that, Mr. Zipf was president of NRT's New York metro region for four years. He previously served as NRT senior vice president, responsible for the financial and administrative sectors that included acquisitions and mergers, financial planning, human resources and facilities. Earlier on, Bruce was responsible for the development of the organization's Real Estate Support Services area, which includes the Coldwell Banker Previews International^® luxury marketing program; its new homes division; relocation; asset management (REO); the Referral Network; and the innovative HomeMatch telephone counseling service.

Mr. Zipf has held senior management positions since he joined Schlott, Realtors as controller in 1986. In 1994, he was promoted to senior vice president of Coldwell Banker Schlott, Realtors.

Prior to entering the real estate industry, Bruce was in public accounting and held the position of senior audit manager for Ernst and Young, where he served a variety of Fortune 500 companies as well as privately held companies.

Featured Corporate Speakers

Jim Gillespie
President and Chief Executive Officer
Coldwell Banker Real Estate LLC

Jim Gillespie was appointed president and chief executive officer of Coldwell Banker Real Estate LLC in April 2004 after serving as the company's chief operating officer for three years. Prior to being COO, Jim served as senior vice president, broker services from 1997 to 2001. A real estate veteran with over 33 years of experience, he has been with the Coldwell Banker brand since 1976.

As president and chief executive officer, Jim oversees marketing, operations, education, mortgage and field services. As the public face of the Coldwell Banker brand, he has become one of the real estate industry's most quoted executives and regularly appears on such prestigious media outlets as CNBC, CNN, Fox News Channel, PBS, ABC, CBS and Bloomberg. Under Jim's guidance, Coldwell Banker Real Estate LLC was named 2007 Innovator of the Year in the brokerage/franchise category by Inman News.

Mr. Gillespie's career has included roles in almost every facet of the real estate industry. Prior to moving to the Coldwell Banker corporate office in 1997, he served as regional director for the Coldwell Banker Southeast regional office. Previously, he ran both the Midwest and Northeast regional offices in the same capacity. Jim has held various management and sales positions within the Coldwell Banker System, including operating officer for the Coldwell Banker company-owned offices in Boston, president of the Coldwell Banker company-owned operations in Kansas City and vice president of real estate services for Coldwell BankerRelocation Services.

Jim began his career as a sales associate for Gallery of Homes real estate in the western suburbs of Chicago, and after only six months was promoted to vice president and office manager in one of its eight offices. He then served in various management positions with Thorsen Realtors, which later became a Coldwell Bankercompany. In 1981, Coldwell Banker Real Estate LLC began its franchise program, and Jim became one of the original ten executives chosen to head the residential affiliates.

Charlie Young is chief operating officer for Coldwell Banker Real Estate LLC, appointed in October 2007 after serving for three years as senior vice president, marketing. In his COO capacity, he directs the company's operations, education and field services programs. He also focuses on communication between Coldwell Banker corporate headquarters, regional offices and its nearly 4,000-office affiliate network around the world. Mr. Young has more than 20 years of business management, field operations and marketing experience.

Charlie joined Coldwell Banker Real Estate LLC in 2004 and spearheaded several innovative Coldwell Banker programs that served as industry firsts while quickly establishing himself as one of the real estate industry's most recognized executives. He helped re-launch the award-winning www.coldwellbanker.com and guided the debut of coldwellbankerpreviews.com as a stand-alone website to support Coldwell Banker Previews International^®, the brand's high-end marketing program. Charlie also spearheaded the launch of www.coldwellbankerworks.com that was named by the Nielsen Norman Group as one of the top ten best intranet sites in the world.

Mr. Young, a frequent speaker at industry events, helped the Coldwell Banker System become the first national full-service real estate brand to utilize streaming video online and apply downloadable widget technology for the brand's Personal Retriever^® search service. Under his leadership, Coldwell Banker Real Estate LLC was also the first to have community amenities included on its online mapping feature and also the first to have a presence on the popular virtual world of SecondLife.com. These and other programs propelled Inman News to name Coldwell Banker Real Estate LLC as the 2007 Innovator of the Year in the brokerage/franchise category.

Prior to joining Coldwell Banker Real Estate LLC, Charlie gained significant real estate field operations experience when he served as a vice president for then Cendant Mortgage (now Coldwell Banker Mortgage) where he worked closely with brokers in the Coldwell Banker, CENTURY 21^® and ERA^® systems to implement private-labeled mortgage programs.

Michael Fischer was appointed as senior vice president, marketing for Coldwell Banker Real Estate LLC in February 2008. He oversees and directs the Coldwell Banker Brand's consumer marketing, including advertising, online initiatives, market research, public relations, internal communications and regional marketing activities. He also guides all aspects of www.coldwellbanker.com, as well as marketing activities associated with Coldwell Banker Previews International and www.coldwellbankerpreviews.com and the brand's agent intranet coldwellbankerworks.com.

Mr. Fischer joins Coldwell Banker Real Estate LLC after spending the past 15 years at Nissan North America, Incorporated, most recently as director of marketing communications. In this role he lead all strategic planning and creative development for Nissan and Infiniti division activities including TV, print, marketing collateral, point-of-sale, and auto industry trade shows. Michael also oversaw regional marketing efforts, including coordination with dealer associations and field offices. He held director of market research and brand management positions as well. Prior to Nissan North America, Michael was employed with Toyota Motor Corporation, Hill Holiday, Flair Communications, and Group Dynamics.

Michael earned his undergraduate degree from Rutgers University in 1981, and later earned an MBA in marketing and finance from the University of California, Los Angeles in 1992.