Dedication, a strong sense of ethics and setting her sights on goals have driven not only Paula Savard’s successful real estate career, but her personal life as well.
As a young a mother, Savard was looking for a flexible, yet lucrative, way to provide for her two young children.
“I thought real estate would enable me to raise a family and give them what they needed through their lives,” she said.
She took and passed the sales exam, and was promptly asked if she wanted to take the broker’s exam – something unheard of today.
“Now you have to take a 40-hour course before you can sit for the sales exam, then you work with a broker for three years before you can take the broker’s exam,” she said.
Savard agreed, passed the exam, and at 22 years old found herself qualified to hang out her shingle. Paula K. Aberman Assoc. was established in Lancaster, Mass.
“It was a risk; I didn’t have the faintest idea what to do,” she said. But 47 years later, the boutique firm is going strong, with many colleagues in association for over 30 years.
In addition to her role as CEO of the firm, Savard is active in realtor education. She instructs agents in professional standards through the National Association of Realtors (NAR), where she serves as legal action chair. She helped create NAR Quadrennial Code of Ethics Education Training, and was appointed first chair of the education subcommittee of the professional standards committee, where she advocated for the addition of agency relationships and guidance to NAR’s code of ethics.
She is also currently a director and vice chairman of MLS PIN – an entity she was instrumental in creating – and sits on several committees.
Past roles include president of the North Central Massachusetts Association of Realtors, president of Massachusetts Association of Realtors (MAR), and president of local and state chapters of the Women’s Council of Realtors.
In 2012, Savard was one of two recipients – from a pool of nearly 1 million – to receive the Distinguished Service Award by NAR. In 2003, she was named Realtor of the Year by MAR.
When she’s not working, she enjoys boating and flying her four-passenger Cessna; the plane is another example of Savard’s practice of finding the best means to an end.
“I got my pilot’s license 12 years ago when my daughter moved to Maine. I figured I could spend four hours on a highway, or two in the air,” she said.
While Savard is proud of her professional accomplishments, she’ll quickly point out that achieving what she set out to do remains her biggest source of pride: seeing her two children through college, and now watching her grandchildren begin that journey.
“Find a way to earn your daily bread – and more – with a career that is your passion and your delight,” she tells young workers today. “Life is good to those who are able to do just that.”
