Interviews
DaVina Lara: Mentorship and Mastery
3 days ago
By stephen roges
DaVina Lara, the accomplished CEO of bridgeMLS and the Bridge Association of REALTORS® in Berkeley, California, brings nearly 30 years of expertise in organized real estate, thriving amidst the dynamic and unpredictable environment of California’s market. With active participation in several RESO workgroups, including Broker Advisory, Data Dictionary, Research & Development, and Showing, Lara has significantly contributed to shaping industry standards and practices. Her career path includes serving as CEO of the Palm Springs Regional Association of REALTORS® and holding key roles at the Newport Beach Association of REALTORS®. Starting as the Office Manager for Orange County MLS, Lara attributes her success to the mentorship of Russ Bergeron, who provided her with cross-training across all facets of MLS operations.
At bridgeMLS, Lara's leadership is the cornerstone of the organization’s success. She not only ensures smooth daily operations but also actively engages with and advises the association's numerous committees and organizes its charitable activities. Lara's decision-making and strategic development are driven by a holistic, team-centric approach. She collaborates closely with her team to analyze operational impacts and customer effects, benchmarks against peers, and seeks leadership support before making any significant decisions. Her dynamic and fearless leadership style is complemented by a strong focus on family, making her not only a formidable industry leader but also a grounded and compassionate individual. Lara's journey is a testament to resilience, mentorship, and a commitment to excellence. Join us as we explore her inspiring story and the significant contributions she has made to our industry.
A Passion for MLS
How did you get involved with the MLS industry?
I was born into my real estate career by Russ Bergeron who hired me as the Office Manager for SoCalMLS. Over time, under the leadership of Bergeron, our MLS expanded through mergers and data shares to become one of the largest MLSs in the nation. Naturally, Russ cross-trained me in every aspect of operating an MLS where I learned that the key to member satisfaction is training and communications. When I left in 2003, we held a large trade show and I had the opportunity to train over 18,000 agents on the latest Tempo system, plus sing God Bless America at the Arrowhead Pond. I could not have asked for a better mentor.
What inspired you to devote your career to the industry?
Truthfully, I fell in love with the passion that MLSs and Association Executives share in helping brokers and agents through onboarding, training, aend support. Realtors truly appreciate and praise us for going above and beyond to provide help. It’s hard to find a career where customers provide so much gratitude.
What previous experiences shaped your approach to MLS leadership?
My career has always been tied to industries of the self-employed and working with individuals who work with a heart of passion. Before joining the MLS and Association ranks, I sold insurance and worked at the National Association of the Self-employed.
If you weren't working in MLS, what would you be doing?
My undergraduate degree is in Psychology. Helping people is in my DNA and working with other women in this industry is somewhat of a passion of mine. Empowering other women to grow and succeed is so important. The number of women in the MLS and PropTech world are increasing and we must always work to support one another. The only thing I could imagine doing if I was not working in our industry would be spending more time with my children and grandchildren.
Industry Outlook
What do you think are the biggest challenges facing the MLS industry today?
As an industry, we need to move faster. For most association regional MLSs, the process outlined in our governance structure to obtain shareholder approvals impedes being agile and moving projects along quickly. Modifying our strategic plan or our budget should not be an annual process. Our strategies need to be adjusted in real-time along with our budgets. MLS organizations support brokers and agents who are constantly adjusting to market conditions. We need to adjust at their pace.
What emerging trends should industry professionals be paying attention to?
Beyond a doubt, I believe that every MLS should either have their data stored in their private data repository cloud or they should be planning for it. Data is the largest asset of any MLS and not having direct control over that asset is too much risk. System outages are harmful enough, but data loss would be the worst outcome for our company and customers. For the longest time, the data of the MLS was stored and managed by our vendors. Some pioneering MLSs have created their own data repositories. This gives MLSs more power and flexibility to innovate.
How do you see technology transforming the real estate market in the next five years?
MLSs are big data companies, and along with every other industry, opportunities in artificial intelligence informed by large language models operating on top of our data cloud will change everything. For example, today we have an AI plugin that allows agents to input an address and drop in photos to create a new listing in under a minute. Before AI, this would have taken the agent more than 20 minutes to go through all of the fields and field enumerations. Not only is the AI producing enormous improvements to streamline the process for the agent, but we also improve data accuracy to the benefit of our brokers and customers. Generative AI is less than two years old, we are in the early days of exploring opportunities.
What will be the impact on MLSs and Associations?
I foresee much more consolidation among the nation’s MLSs and Realtor Associations. Our focus is to become an attractive data company that will enable applications for our brokers, agents, and the vendors that support them.
How do you approach adapting to possible changes and disruptions?
Generally, changes and disruptions come to the real estate industry slowly. It takes a long time to alter the course of a few million Realtors working with tens of millions of consumers producing 5 million trades a year. Our focus is on research, collaboration with our partners, listening to industry leaders, and attending meetings. Our goal is to be at the table to understand and influence positive change in a way that does not cause undue disruption to our housing marketplace.
How do you plan to contribute to the evolution of the industry?
Organizations like CMLS and RESO are delivering impactful changes that move the industry forward in the best possible way. We engage in these organizations with our peers and partners to evolve best practices, explore opportunities, and support our customers though the implementation of services and tools that improve our industry.
Leadership & Management
How do you approach decision-making and strategy as CEO?
I take a 360-degree approach to decision-making and strategy development. Everything starts with my team. We collaborate to dissect the operational impact for our company and the impact on our customers. Secondarily, we research and benchmark against our peers to understand if our predicted outcomes are in line with their experience. When we have the confidence to move forward, I take the question to my leadership for support. At the end of the day, I own every decision.
We are a very lean and optimized organization. All of us are cross-trained and operate in the trenches through one one-on-one and group engagements with our customers. My style is open-door and 100% approachable by anyone at any time. With thousands of stakeholders, that may sound overwhelming, but it's not.
How do you foster innovation and creativity within your teams?
We seek out engagement with our customers and the industry. Our individual interactions with our customers allow us to listen to their needs and to share ideas with them for feedback. Of course, we also implement regular research, and everyone here is empowered to bring up new ideas. We also attend lots of conferences and workshops. I think that MLSs get a bad rap as innovators. There is a lot more going along than many pundits understand.
What was one of the most challenging things you’ve had to lead your team through?
Like every company in the world, we faced a global pandemic. We were ordered to go remove on March 16th. On the 17th, our staff fully transitioned and we were 100% productive. I am so proud of my colleagues at Contra Costa and Bay East for the crisis collaboration – we all came together and became stronger. Adversity drove excellence.
How do you measure success for yourself and your team?
The one key to success for myself as a leader and my team I realized early on is that I can not achieve success without my team. Their success and degree of success will determine how far our MLS will grow. I have worked with my COO, Gustavo Rodriguez, for close to 30 years, and without him by my side, the goals we have achieved would not have been as sweet.
We gauge the success by customer satisfaction surveys and stakeholder interviews. Internally, I have one-on-one meetings with my staff and annual evaluations. Evaluations for the CEO are managed by our Board of Directors and Shareholders.
What do you consider your biggest professional achievement?
I am so thankful for the opportunity to lead a great team at East Bay Regional Data to create bridgeMLS, with the assistance of my COO, Gustavo Rodriguez. We launched a second platform, DynaConnections alongside our Paragon platform, running simultaneously with Add/Edit functions.
Mentorship and Wisdom
What advice do you have for emerging leaders in the industry?
Start by deeply understanding how your business operates. To be a leader, you must understand exactly how your business works and the capabilities of every person you supervise. Strong relationships with your vendors are invaluable.
Once you have understanding and operational awareness, go directly to your clients and meet with them to develop a trusting relationship. Listen to their appraisal of your company, learn their challenges, and get ideas for how your collaboration can have a positive impact on their success. Anchorage with your customers and board will never end.
Start meeting with your peers in adjacent markets to discuss opportunities for collaboration. We are an industry driven by conferences, be sure to attend those and network with your peers and vendors.
How do you stay informed and ahead?
We attend many industry conferences, subscribe to publications, and meet with peers. I advocate for the Council of MLS, where I have achieved the CMLX 3 designation. I also serve on the CMLS best practices advisory board. We also hold the RESO Red designation, and my staff and I serve on multiple RESO workgroups.
How do you balance work and personal life in such a demanding industry?
I cannot operate a business and lead a team without a strong focus on my family. Family allows you to center yourself and enable your work to be more rewarding. My industry family is important to me as well.
Do you wish to share anything about your family?
I am a proud mother of 7 kids and 9 grandchildren – they are the center of my life.
What's the best piece of professional advice you've ever received?
“Make it about the brokers” – Russ Bergeron
What do you do to unwind or relax after a busy week?
When I am not working, I go directly to family, plants, and music. My favorite artists are Jon Batiste and Billy Strings, and Stevie Nicks.
Who in the industry, past or present, do you admire the most?
This one is easy - Russ Bergeron.
What is your favorite quote?
“Go with your gut” – Warren Buffett
Can you share a surprising fact about yourself that not many people know?
I am a singer – I sang “Dreams” by Fleetwood Mac with the RESO band.
Fun fact?
My COO Gustavo Rodriguez and I have worked together for 29 years!