Kevin Sears concludes NAR presidency with praise, strategic plan focus

Monday marked Kevin Sears’ 679th day as president of the National Association of Realtors (NAR). Sears spent what is effectively his final day as association president by leading NAR’s board of directors meeting held at the conclusion of NAR’s NXT conference in Houston. 

While Sears’s time as president was nearly twice the length he had initially anticipated due to his early ascension after Tracy Kasper resigned in early January 2024, he told the nearly 900 directors gathered in Houston that it has been an “honor and a privilege” to serve as their president. 

“What we have been able to do since January 8th of last year, I believe, has transformed our association,” Sears said. “The hiring of Nykia Wright as our permanent CEO — she has been the juggernaut that we needed.” 

Sears praised Wright for guiding the association through budget challenges, revamping its risk mitigation efforts and creating the impetus for NAR’s recently passed 2026-2028 strategic plan, which he feels will help guide the association into the future. 

If rules allow for it, Sears says he would like to give Wright an NAR President’s Award.

“What you have done is extraordinary,” Sears said. 

But Sears wasn’t the only one doling out praise. During her remarks, Wright gave Sears his metaphorical flowers, telling directors that the changes she was able to enact were only possible due to Sears’ support. 

“My journey, thus far at NAR, has been the most challenging professional opportunity imaginable,” Wright said. “It has, at times, been very hard coming into an industry where I knew no one and then taking a pledge to do my best to help keep the association on track. Many thought that I was insane for even trying. I led and managed a turnaround before, but it was nothing like this.”

Despite all of the turmoil and chaos, Wright said there was still a hope and a desire for her to continue.

“There was hope because there was another man in the fire, teaching me the ropes and effectively carrying the association when I was still getting up to speed. That man was Kevin Sears,” she said. “There was hope because he led by example and showed me how to properly care for the association and members that I was serving. There was hope because when I was afraid to get on stages around the country because I didn’t want to say the wrong things and have that blowback on our members, he offered to join those stages with me.”

According to Wright, while the industry at large may remember him for helping stave off bankruptcy, managing the commission lawsuit settlement decision, managing the transformation of member experience, balancing two budgets, and getting the strategic plan passed, she will remember him “carrying the association through its most turbulent and darkest period through his actions and sincerity and doing the things that no one else would have wanted to do.”

“Kevin made the load easier to carry and I will forever be grateful for his leadership and partnership,” she said. “He’s an extraordinary man and citizen, and I am grateful to have had him along with me on this journey.” 

NAR’s “guiding star” for the next three years

Much of the meeting was dedicated to further discussion of NAR’s 2026-2028 strategic plan, which was unanimously passed by the executive committee during a meeting on Sunday. According to Dawn Ruffini, the 2025 chair of the strategic planning committee, the plan will be “NAR’s guiding star for the next three years.” 

“To echo something Nykia said, most members will find real value in NAR if we deliver on those priorities [outlined in the strategic plan],” Ruffini said. 

With Ruffini’s term as chair coming to an end, it will be up to Adam Watkins to oversee the start of the implementation of the plan in 2026. 

“We are going where no strategic planning committee has gone before, pushing boundaries and setting a new standard for leadership in NAR’s second century,” Watkins said. “Looking ahead to 2026, we’re focused on accountability to make sure this plan doesn’t just live on the paper that it is writing on, but actually comes true.” 

According to Watkins, to accomplish this, he and his team will build feedback loops and ensure that the plan stays dynamic and relevant.

“We are keeping our eyes on the strategic horizon because we can’t only look down at the plan we have, we have to look out and see what is coming down the track so that we can adapt,” Watkins said.

While NAR may be in a better position than it was 679 days ago when Sears took office, the trade group is most definitely not out of the woods just yet, as it continues to face buy-side commission lawsuits, as well as disputes over the three-way membership agreement and continued slow housing market conditions.

Although NAR is finishing 2025 beating its membership estimate of 1.4 million members with a total of 1.49 million members, the organization said it is budgeting for 1.2 million members in 2026.

Additionally, NAR said it will continue to reduce operating expenses to maintain current membership dues, while still meeting its obligation to pay $72 million into the commission lawsuit settlement fund in February 2026. 

For now, Sears says he is looking forward to taking a long awaited vacation, as he looks to make good on a promise he made to his wife Molly on stage Monday, and it will be up to NAR’s 2026 president, Kevin Brown, to continue enacting the changes Sears and Wright have set into motion over the past 679 days.