Hudson Gateway installs officers for group’s 100th year

The Hudson Gateway Association of Realtors recently installed Marcene Hedayati, broker-owner of William Raveis Legends Realty Group in the Rivertowns, as its president for 2016, the association”™s 100th anniversary year in Westchester.

Renee Zurlo, associate broker with BHG Rand Realty in Central Valley, was appointed as the 2016 president of the Hudson Gateway Multiple Listing Service, a subsidiary of HGAR that lists about 20,000 residential properties on the market in Westchester, Putnam, Dutchess, Rockland, Orange, Sullivan and Ulster counties and the Bronx.

Hedayati and Zurlo and executive officers and directors of the four-county Realtors association and its listing service officially assumed their new posts at the association”™s Centennial Gala on Jan. 21 at The Ritz-Carlton, Westchester in White Plains.

Hedayati and business partners in 2006 formed Legends Realty Group, which has offices in Briarcliff Manor, Hastings-on-Hudson, Irvington and Tarrytown.  Legends in 2011 joined William Raveis Real Estate. Hedayati began her real estate career at Houlihan Lawrence and in 2013 was named Realtor of the Year by Hudson Gateway Association of Realtors.

Before venturing into real estate, Hedayati owned seven Benetton clothing stores and later managed fashion boutiques along Madison Avenue in New York City, according to HGAR.

Zurlo, a state-certified real estate instructor, leads the Hudson Gateway Multiple Listing Service as president after more than 20 years in the industry. She began her career with Coldwell Banker in Orange County and later opened her own firm in Middletown, Real Estate United. She joined BHG Rand Realty in 2009 as its regional development manager.

Zurlo for many years served on the former Orange County Association of Realtors Multiple Listing Service board of directors and headed the Hudson Gateway Multiple Listing Service committee that researched new multiple listing service systems.

Newly installed executive officers of HGAR for 2016 are Dorothy Botsoe, of Dorothy Jensen Realty Inc. in White Plains, HGAR president-elect for 2017; John Lease III, of John Lease Realtors in Newburgh, regional vice president for Orange County; Russell Woolley, of Wright Bros Real Estate Inc. in Nyack, regional vice president for Rockland County; Barry Kramer, of Westchester Choice Realty in Scarsdale, regional vice president for Westchester and Putnam counties; Clayton Livingston, of BHHS Hudson Valley Properties in Pawling, regional vice president for Westchester and Putnam counties; Pamela Jones, of Coldwell Banker in White Plains, secretary-treasurer; and Drew Kessler of Wright Bros Real Estate Inc., immediate past president.

New Hudson Gateway Multiple Listing Service officers include Louise Colonna, of Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage in White Plains, vice president; Chirag Shah, of Gateway Realty Corp. of New York in Mamaroneck, treasurer; Eileen Barrett, of Houlihan Lawrence in Brewster, secretary; and Leah Caro, of Bronxville-Ley Real Estate in Bronxville, immediate past president.

The Hudson Gateway association traces its roots to 1916 and the founding of the Westchester County Realty Board. In the midst of the national housing market crisis, the Westchester Realtors group in 2009 merged with the Putnam County Association of Realtors. In 2011, the two-county group merged with the Rockland County Board of Realtors and the Orange County Association of Realtors.

With nearly 10,000 members, Hudson Gateway is the second largest Realtors association in New York.