Dalessandro Named 2008 Illinois REALTOR of the Year

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – Patrick Dalessandro, CRS, GRI, of Prospect Heights was named the 2008 Illinois REALTOR of the Year. The announcement was made at the Illinois Association of REALTORS (IAR) Business Meetings in Springfield on March 27. A REALTOR of the Year banquet will be held in Dalessandro’s honor on September 16, 2008, at the Westin Hotel in Lombard.

The REALTOR of the Year award is presented to the one member of the Illinois Association of REALTORS who best exemplifies the professional qualities of a REALTOR. The award recognizes leadership and service in civic, community and charitable causes, as well as activity in the REALTOR Association.

“Patrick is a professional by every standard and has been tremendously active in REALTOR fundraising, education and professional standards at the local, state and national levels,” said Kay Wirth, president of the Illinois Association of REALTORS.

With a career that spans 37 years, Dalessandro is the broker-owner of Coachlight Realty GMAC, the company he founded in 1974 in Niles.

Dalessandro is a past president of his local REALTOR Association of Northwest Chicagoland (RANWC) and was named its REALTOR of the Year in 1988.  He has served on many local association committees over the years and chaired the Village of Niles Beautification and Sign Board of Appeals Committee in the 1980s and 1990s.

During his over 20 years of active state involvement, Dalessandro served as president of the Illinois Association of REALTORS in 1997 and has played an integral role in fundraising for the REALTOR Political Action Committee (RPAC). He has held leadership roles as chair of the IAR Advisory Council, Credentials Working Group, Issues Mobilization Political Action Committee (IMPAC) as well as the Finance and Executive committees and has been a member of numerous task forces and working groups.

Dalessandro has served on IAR’s Commercial Industrial and Investment Committee and given much of his time to Professional Standards and the association’s nonprofit Real Estate Educational Foundation (www.ilreef.org), which awards scholarships for the study of real estate and related fields at colleges and universities both within and outside Illinois.

He currently serves on the IAR Board of Directors, the Commercial Industrial and Investment Committee and Executive Committee as well as the RPAC Trustees and Major Donor Working Group. He also serves on the IAR Advisory Council and Leadership Development Working Group.

Active nationally since 1989, Dalessandro serves on the National Association of REALTORS Board of Directors and Land Use Property Rights and Environment Committee.

Dalessandro gives his time and talents outside the real estate community participating in local politics and volunteering at community homeless shelters. He also has a passion for animals and is a contributor to the Assisi Animal Foundation and the Buddy Foundation, not-for-profit organizations dedicated to the welfare of homeless and abandoned animals.

Dalessandro is a graduate of Northern Illinois University, where he was a competitive gymnast. He lives in Prospect Heights with his wife, Amy.

The Illinois Association of REALTORS is a voluntary trade association whose 60,000 members are engaged in all facets of the real estate industry. In addition to serving the professional needs of its members, the Illinois Association of REALTORS works to protect the rights of private property owners in the state by recommending and promoting legislation that safeguards and advances the interest of real property ownership.

-30-