Each year, the National Association of Realtors hands out its Distinguished Service Award to two of its 1.4 million members, and this year local realtor Diana Bull is one of that duo.
Started in 1979, the DSA honors realtors who have made outstanding contributions to the real estate industry and serve as leaders in their communities. According to an NAR press release, it is considered the highest honor a member of the organization can receive.
Ms. Bull said she is the first woman from the state of California to receive this award. The realtor told the News-Press that getting women to key positions in the real estate industry has long been a priority of hers.
“Since 1999 I’ve been trying to get women appointed to key positions, and cultural diversity, and it’s worked. It’s worked for the past 21 years for the California association of realtors. I had to break that glass ceiling and I did,” she said.
For more than 40 years, Ms. Bull led her own real estate brokerage and mortgage operation and is currently chief financial officer and broker-associate with Pacific Crest Realty, which is owned by her daughter, Staci Caplan.
NAR president Vince Malta of San Francisco said of Ms. Bull, “Diana has had a tremendous impact on the real estate industry through her trailblazing accomplishments and selfless service to her fellow Realtors in California and across the country.”
Throughout her real estate career, Ms. Bull has held leadership positions in the NAR. She served on its board of directors for 31 years, was its Liaison for Law & Policy in 2016, its Region 13 vice president in 2006, and has served on its Finance and Budget Review committees since 2001.
She also served as president of the Santa Barbara Association of Realtors in 1982, in 1996 and 1997. She was the first female treasurer of the California Association of Realtors, served as CAR’s president in 1999, and was president of the National Association of Women Business Owners in 2012.
Ms. Bull is also a certified instructor in real estate finance and in 2008, the Pacific Coast Business Times selected her as one of its “Top 5 Women in Business.”
Ms. Bull said it was a “huge honor” to receive the DSA and that she was especially happy to have it signed by fellow Californians, Mr. Malta, California Association of Realtors president Jeanne Radsick of Bakersfield, and her daughter Ms. Caplan, who is president of the Santa Barbara Association of Realtors.
“To have this award signed by three Californians, I had tears in my eyes when I saw this,” she said.
She added, “The statue they gave me looked like an Oscar.”
email: jgrega@newspress.com
