About Us
Corporate Overview
Realserv, LLC was established in 2005 in Asheville, NC by NC Management Corp., a wholly-owned subsidiary of the North Carolina Association of REALTORS® (NCAR – est. 1921). Realserv is responsible for providing integrated document and transaction management solutions to real estate agents across 17 states subscribing to NCAR’s proprietary web-based real estate forms software system Realfast (RF2Go).
Realserv’s value-added services are customized to address the individual needs of our brokerages nationwide in ensuring legally compliant, timely, and completed transactions for real estate brokers, agents and their clients.
Realserv is currently launching services to real estate professionals in selected areas of North Carolina and most recently began offering the same high degree of attention to pilot territories of the Pennsylvania Association of REALTORS® (PAR). Integrated solutions include access to required forms, TMS, individual property reports, and connection to the world of service providers required for listing and sale transactions. For more information, please contact us.
Chronology of Events
- 1989
- Realfast Software Publishing, Inc. was formed by an independent proprietor for the purpose of developing and distributing a comprehensive set of real estate contract forms to real estate agents in multiple markets. This forms system was developed for the agents to use in their daily listing and selling practice with home buyers and sellers.
- February 1991
- The North Carolina Association of REALTORS® (NCAR) formed a wholly-owned for-profit subsidiary, NCAR Service Corporation, to provide an array of services to Boards/Associations and real estate professionals around the state.
- October 2002
- The North Carolina Association of REALTORS® formed a wholly-owned for-profit subsidiary, NCAR Management Corporation to provide management services to the organization and affiliated entities.
- April 2003
- NCAR Service Corp. formed a wholly-owned subsidiary, Realfast Inc.
- July 2003
- NCAR Service Corp.’s Realfast, Inc. acquired the assets of Realfast Software Publishing, Inc. and took full control of its operations and multi-state customer base then exceeding 100,000 real estate professionals the country.
- August 2005
- NCAR Management Corp. formed Realserv, LLC for the purpose of completing the research, development, and deployment of enhanced systems and services to Realfast’s growing customer base of approximately 150,000 real estate professionals across 17 states.
- March 2008
- Realserv launches operations, providing customized transaction and document management services to real estate office customers of Realfast.
Management Team
Board of Directors
- Shannon Van Etten
Status: Realserv, LLC Manager – Board of Directors – CEO
B.S. Business Management, Purdue University, Shannon brings years of experience in research and development of transaction management systems, financial analysis, deal structure, partnership formation, real estate acquisition, finance and lending. Shannon brings extensive development of Realserv’s business model and core services, and is responsible for the design & mapping of internal & external operational procedures which drive the launch of Realserv systems and related services. He is also responsible for fulfilling our investor relations, development of market rollout strategy, and overall corporate steering.
- Greg Ferguson
Status: Realserv, LLC Manager – Board of Directors – President
B.S. Psychology, Wake Forest University, J.D. Wake Forest University School of Law, and attorney at law, Greg brings years of experience in system engineering for law firm automation and transaction management, from his prior professional experience as a real estate attorney and before that from being a real estate agent. Greg has claim to being the youngest real estate agent licensed in the United States at the age of 15. He is responsible for overseeing customization / integration of the core technologies utilized by Realserv and its customers, along with identifying corporate legal issues, fulfilling our transaction management offering, and overall development and growth of the business.
- William DePriest
Status: Realserv, LLC Manager – Board of Directors – CFO
B.S.B.A. Business, Western Carolina University, MBA, Duke University, Certified Public Accountant, Bill brings over 20 years experience in the development, growth, structure and operational management of various corporations and currently is the Chief Operating Officer of the NC Association of REALTORS®, the Executive Director of NCAR Management Corp., and the Chief Executive Officer of Realfast, Inc. Bill is responsible for the set-up, development of structure, marketing plans, coordination of the systems from the Realfast perspective, financial management and completion of capital partnering and financial operations of Realserv.
- Hank Lerner
Status: Realserv, LLC Manager – Board of Directors – Business Development
Hank Lerner is Director of Member & Legal Services for the Pennsylvania Association of REALTORS®. In this position he is responsible for development and distribution of PAR Standard Forms, administering the PAR Professional Standards program, and for overseeing the Association’s “Preferred PARtners” member benefits program. Hank has been a frequent speaker at local and regional REALTOR® meetings across the state, developing and presenting programs on legal issues and forms usage, and conducting PAR’s statewide professional standards training program.
Hank is also Chief Operations Officer for Business Services for Real Estate (BSRE), a for-profit subsidiary of PAR. As COO, Hank is responsible for product development and review, and daily operations of BSRE and its subsidiary, EasyStreet Insurance Services, LLC. Prior to joining PAR in 2000, Hank worked as an Associate Staff Counsel with the Pennsylvania State Education Association, and before that was the co-owner of a successful restaurant and catering business. Hank holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Pittsburgh and a law degree from the College of William and Mary School of Law. He has been admitted to the Pennsylvania bar since 1994. He currently lives in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania with his wife and daughter.
- Woodward McKee
Status: Realserv, LLC Manager – Board of Directors – Investor Relations
Woodward H. McKee is currently the Managing Director for Whiteside Partners, LLC, overseeing such projects as the “Whiteside Fund” – one of the first private equity funds focused on real estate acquisition and finance in Western North Carolina. Woodward has been involved in residential and commercial development and land sales in Western North Carolina for over twelve years. Woodward was the principal in the development of Headwaters Golf Club, Arrowhead and Sassafras Ridge in Cashiers, and the Reserve in Brevard, NC., and focuses currently on Realserv investor relations.
- Brad Galbraith
Status: Realserv, LLC Manager – Board of Directors – Investor Relations – Business Development
Brad Galbraith is Chief Development Officer for Kimmel & Associates, Co-Owner of Preferred Properties (a boutique real estate firm specializing in high-end properties), former Chief Operating Officer for WNC’s largest real estate brokerage Beverly-Hanks, and currently serves on the Board of Directors for ABR Services, a for-profit company of the Asheville Board of REALTORS®, and served as 2006 President of the Asheville Board of REALTORS®. Additionally, Mr. Galbraith served on the Board of Directors of Realfast Inc., one of the top three real estate forms software companies in the nation, currently owned and operated by the wholly-owned for-profit subsidiary of The North Carolina Association of REALTORS®. Brad is heavily involved in financial management and development projects for the real estate division of Kimmel & Associates, one of the largest recruiting firms in the country specializing in the Construction, Solid Waste, Freight Forwarding, Supply Chain and Transportation industries, and focuses currently on investor relations and business development for the company.
- Cindy Ireland
Status: Vice President of Information Technology
BS/Business Management, University of Phoenix; AS/Computer and Information Science, San Diego Mesa College, Cindy brings extensive experience in diverse financial, defense, public sector, utilities, electronic manufacturing and biotechnology/medical device industries. Over the course of her career, Cindy has served in senior leadership roles as Vice President of San Diego Chapter Association of Information Technology Professionals; Manager of Information Systems for Pacific Aerosystems; Senior Systems Analyst for Proxima Corporation; and recently Senior Director of Information Systems for Gen-Probe Inc., where she successfully led a large software selection and global SAP implementation project covering business processes for materials management, production and planning, finance and controlling, sales and distribution, project systems, human resource, quality and warehouse management all on time and on budget.
Cindy brings extensive expertise in areas of development and implementation of methodologies for information security, virus protection, disaster recovery & business continuity. As Realserv’s Vice President of Information Technology, Cindy is charged with an array of responsibilities to which she is already accustomed in her former capacities serving successful technology companies, and she will oversee the ongoing development of the Realserv platform, partner integration, and management of a secure and reliable environment with proactive monitoring of the technological infrastructure.
- Phil Ferguson
Status: Broker Relations Director
B.S. Cum Laude, psychology, Western Carolina University, Real Estate Broker, GRI, REALTOR® brings over 22 years of practical industry experience buying selling, investing and developing real estate all while implementing and applying transaction management solutions. In addition, Phil brings years of experience in research, development and utilization of transaction management systems from the brokers perspective for workflow solutions and technology adoption. He has been a multi-million dollar producer since 1995 and has made his own real estate practice virtually paperless since 2005.
Phil is charged with directing the Broker Relations teams to meet brokers' demanding needs for adopting Realserv industry solutions while increasing agent efficiency with minimal interruption on adopting brokerages workflow. He is also responsible for identifying and minimizing industry hurdles for broker adoption, development of internal process, assessing system integrations relevant to broker workflow needs and aid in process development for market rollout.
- Jennifer Manner
Status: Advisory Board Member – Realserv Information Technology Consultant
B.A. English Dartmouth College; Microsoft Certified Professional, Jennifer brings a history of experience in new product & software development, functional and regression testing, technical doc prep and analysis, training program development, project and training management, and marketing for a host of companies such as Lockheed Martin, Anystream Inc., ACS Desktop Solutions, and has served as System Administrator / Legislative Correspondent for Congress in Washington DC. Jennifer has been instrumental in the process analysis, business development and project management of Realserv systems which support our customer service model.
- Robert Brannon
Status: Advisory Board Member – Broker Technology Adoption
Mr. Brannon’s array of contributions to the WNC business and social communities transcend the space we have available for writing. A few accolades include his current Director Emeritus status with HomeTrust Bank after 28 years of service on the Board of Directors; Past Region 10 Vice-President of the North Carolina Association of REALTORS®; Past president of Waynesville Board of REALTORS®; Lifetime Political Action Committee Member for NC REALTORS®; Recipient of first “REALTOR® of the Year Award” presented by Haywood County Board of REALTORS®; Red Cross Board of Directors; Salvation Army Advisory Board Member, Director and Regional President; Co-founder of Western Carolina University’s Sigma Chi Fraternity Chapter; Founder of the Waynesville Recreation Endowment Fund and Chair of the Task Force on Recreation for Waynesville, NC; Past Director of Haywood Community College Foundation; Past Director of Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy Board; Current Board Member for Haywood County Waterways; Dedicatee of Town of Waynesville’s Recreation Center’s “Brannon Building”; Past President and Drive Chairman of Haywood County Heartfund; Past President of Waynesville Area United Fund, also Budget Chairman, Director, and Fund Drive Chairman; and spokesperson for numerous other successful organizations.
- Benjamin R. Kuhn, Esq.
Status: Advisory Board Member – Consumer Protection
Ben’s practice at Kuhn & Ball, PLLC focuses on real estate, land use, business law, and commercial litigation. Ben currently represents the NC Bar Association’s Real Property Section as its Consumer Protection Counsel. In this role, Ben works with the Section’s Consumer Protection Committee and serves as liaison between members of the NCBA Real Property Section and state regulatory agencies, including the NC State Bar, the Banking Commission, the Department of Insurance, and the Real Estate Commission in connection with the investigation of unauthorized practice of law (UPL) and consumer protection matters in real estate transactions. Prior to forming his own law firm in 2005, Ben practiced with the Raleigh firms Holt York McDarris & High (now merged with Smith Moore) and Kilpatrick Stockton.
- Jason Ingle
Status: Advisory Board Member – Technology, MLS, and Broker Adoption
Jason is President of ABR Services, a for-profit company established by the Asheville Board of REALTORS®. ABR Services publishes the Real Estate Weekly, which was founded in 1988 as one of the first Board-owned real estate advertising publications in the nation. Mr. Ingle has also served as Vice-President of Sales since 2005 for Asheville’s first exclusive buyers’ agency “The Buyers Agent of Asheville”, and graduated from Appalachian State University in 1994 with a BA degree in Marketing.
- Brenda Florida
Status: Advisory Board – Appointee of Pennsylvania Association of REALTORS®
Brenda began her business career in 1983 as the owner of three Domino’s Pizza restaurants in North Carolina. In 1988, Ms. Florida received her real estate license and began her real estate career in Salisbury, NC. After actively listing and selling real estate, then moving into office management, Ms. Florida moved to Pennsylvania in 1999 and joined Century 21 Alliance in Lansdale, PA. She managed that office until 2004 at which point she became a co-owner in the office. In 2006, Ms. Florida sold her interest in Century 21 Alliance and joined Coldwell Banker HomeSale Services Group, a large central Pennsylvania real estate company. She currently manages their Hershey office, and recruits for the Harrisburg region.
In 2002, Ms. Florida became involved in the Pennsylvania Association of REALTORS® (PAR). Committee appointments include Legislative Committee, Vice Chair of the Business Issues Sub-Committee, Governance Task Force, and Chair of Standard Forms to name a few. Additionally, Ms. Florida serves on the Board of Directors for Business Services for Real Estate (BSRE), a subsidiary of PAR.
- Ross Rhudy
Status: Advisory Board Member – Business Development
Ross Rhudy, Chief Operating Officer of Ammons Pittman GMAC Real Estate in Raleigh, North Carolina and former Director of the North Carolina Association of REALTORS®, brings 24 years of experience and leadership in the residential real estate industry to our board. Mr Rhudy served as the 1999 President of the Raleigh Regional Association of REALTORS® and has served in an executive capacity for some of the region’s largest brokerage firms, including Vice-President of Sales and Operations of Prudential Carolina Real Estate in Charleston, SC; State-wide General Manager of Prudential Carolinas Realty for both North Carolina and South Carolina; General Manager of York Simpson Underwood Realty in Raleigh, NC; and Vice President and Sales Manager of Fonville Morisey Realty in Raleigh. In addition to these positions, Mr. Rhudy was an original founder and Charter President of the Triangle Multiple Listing Service and has served as Regional Vice-President and Executive Committee member of the North Carolina Association of REALTORS®, was recognized as 2001 Builder-Broker Journal “Manager of the Year” and named 2003 “REALTOR® of the Year” for the 7,000 member Raleigh Regional Association of REALTORS®.
- Kimberly Evans
Status: Advisory Board Member
Kimberly Evans began her career in real estate in 1986. After 8 years as a top producing residential agent she became owner/broker-in-charge of her own firm. Always keeping current with the changing market Kimberly diversified into commercial real estate and development. She then founded Alpha Real Estate and Construction to specialize in investment and property management. Kimberly has always been very active with the board of REALTORS® at the local and state levels and was recognized as the Realtor of the Year in 2005 by Asheville Board of REALTORS®. Currently she serves as the President-Elect of the Asheville Board of REALTORS®, as a director for the WNC Regional MLS, the Mountain Council for Accountable Development (MCAD), and the North Carolina Association of REALTORS® as well as being a state Property Management Governor.
- J. Christopher Lynch, Esq.
Status: Realserv Corporate Counsel
Chris’s practice at Wyrick Robbins Yates & Ponton LLP focuses on intellectual property protection & licensing, mergers & acquisitions, private placements, and venture capital financings, primarily for clients in the communications, electronics, life sciences and software industries. He joined the firm in 1992 and has worked extensively with technology-based companies in the Research Triangle Park. Prior to that time, Chris practiced at Wilson, Sonsini, Goodrich & Rosati, the largest law firm in Silicon Valley, where he worked with various technology-based companies.He graduated from the University of Virginia, receiving his B.A., with honors, and from Harvard Law School, receiving his J.D., cum laude.
- John M. Fuscoe, Esq.
Status: Realserv Corporate Counsel
John concentrates his practice at Wyrick Robbins Yates & Ponton LLP in intellectual property, strategic partnerships, venture capital financings, and the representation of technology-based businesses, and his primary clients are software and Internet-related companies. After working for two years as a management consultant, John was employed by IBM for ten years in various management positions.John received a B.S., with distinction, from the University of Virginia, and an M.B.A. (with concentration in finance) from Carnegie Mellon University. He received a J.D. from Duke University School of Law.
- Thomas H. Cook, Jr., Esq.
Status: Realserv Corporate Counsel
Tom’s practice at Wyrick Robbins Yates & Ponton LLP focuses on income taxation (including corporate and LLC mergers, acquisitions and reorganizations, and low-income housing and historic rehabilitation tax credits), state and local taxation, and partnership and limited liability company law. Before joining the firm in 1998, Tom had been a partner with another law firm in Raleigh, an attorney-advisor at the United States Tax Court, and a CPA with a Big Eight accounting firm in Virginia.Tom is actively involved with the N.C. Bar Association, through which he has been Chair of the Tax Section and a principal drafter of recent revisions to North Carolina’s partnership and LLC acts. Tom received a B.S. in Commerce (accounting concentration) from the University of Virginia, a J.D. from the College of William & Mary, and an LL.M. in Taxation from Georgetown University. He also attended the University of Exeter in England and the University of Grenoble in France.
- Additional Officers & Managers
As Realserv increases it’s service level activity to current Realfast customers and others in the marketplace, and according to internal hiring and ramping schedules, Realserv will be working with various industry-specific recruiters for placement of additional upper level managers. These management positions relate to areas of customer relations, transaction management, business development, and others to be determined by officers of the company on an on-going basis.
- Other Personnel
In addition to bringing on key upper-level managers and personnel, significant contributions to the Realserv operation are currently being made by a host of valuable individuals from parent and partner companies in areas of software development, system integration, customer service management, financial & accounting administration, legal & contract management, marketing & collateral development, business strategy development and others. Our partnerships with leading companies such as First American Corporation and its subsidiaries have afforded Realserv the leveraged resources of the nation’s top technological and business leadership in the real estate industry.