Katonah broker named Hudson Gateway Realtor of the Year

The Hudson Gateway Association of Realtors has named a broker-owner in Katonah as its Realtor of the Year for 2014.

Carol Christiansen, who opened Café Realty in Katonah in 2013, was honored recently at the annual meeting of HGAR, which represents about 9,000 real estate professionals in Westchester, Putnam, Dutchess, Rockland and Bronx counties.

In real estate for almost 20 years, Christiansen previously worked at Keller Williams Realty, Prudential Holmes & Kennedy and Preferred Realty Inc.,  and has served on the Realtors association”™s board of directors and several of its volunteer committees. She is past president of the Empire-Westchester chapter of the Women”™s Council of Realtors.

In her community, Christiansen is involved with Drug Crisis in Our Backyard, a nonprofit organization founded in Mahopac two years ago to raise awareness and provide education to families and individuals struggling with addiction.

Richard D. O”™Donnell, a property tax consultant in Scarsdale, was named the Hudson Gateway association”™s Affiliate Member of the Year.

HGAR officials said O”™Donnell has been a constant supporter of the association and has helped many HGAR members and their clients to save money on their real estate taxes. Before opening his own business, he spent 28 years as tax assessor for the towns of Eastchester and Mount Pleasant and the village of Tuckahoe.

Also receiving awards at the annual meeting were:

Ӣ Kathy Milich, of RE/MAX Benchmark Realty in New Windsor, Spirit Award.

”¢ Jennifer Maher, of  J. Philip Real Estate LLC in Briarcliff Manor, and Russ Woolley, broker-owner of Wright Bros. Real Estate Inc. in Nyack, Extra Mile Award.

Ӣ Gail Fattizzi, of Westchester Real Estate Inc. in Eastchester, and Mike Gibbons, of Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage in Dobbs Ferry, PresidentӪs Award.

Ӣ Ralph Ragette, of Ragette Real Estate Inc. in Eastchester, the Albert P. Schatz Legislative Advocacy Award.

The association this year added a new honor, the Stephanie Crispinelli Humanitarian Award, named for a Katonah resident who died in an earthquake in Haiti while on a humanitarian mission. The award is presented to an HGAR member who has made a significant impact on helping those in their local community and beyond.

Stephanie Crispinelli”™s mother, Lin Crispinelli, an associate broker at Houlihan Lawrence in Somers, received the inaugural award for establishing “Stephanie”™s Mission,” a nonprofit that helps children and families worldwide by building homes and schools and supplying clothes and other necessities.

“Their selfless volunteer work and ”˜go-give”™ attitude has continued to be an inspiration for us all,” HGAR CEO Richard Haggerty said of the winners.