This week, the National Association of Realtors announced Senior Vice President and Chief Lobbyist Jerry Giovaniello is stepping down at the end of this year, after nearly four decades of service with the group. 

“Jerry has had a distinguished nearly four-decade career at NAR, protecting the interests of Realtors, the real estate industry, and current and future property owners. NAR’s advocacy efforts have greatly expanded and grown in influence in recent decades, and Jerry has contributed greatly to those efforts,” NAR CEO Bob Goldberg said in a statement.

Giovaniello joined NAR in 1981 after working on Capitol Hill as chief of staff for two members of Congress from California. NAR named him chief lobbyist in 2001. During his tenure, Giovaniello led in the opposition of a flat tax proposal in the late 1990s, called for the permanent prohibition of banks in real estate brokerage, and worked to persuade Congress to institute mortgage debt relief and a first-time homebuyer tax credit in the wake of the housing crisis, to name of few of his efforts.

“On behalf of NAR’s leadership, staff, and a million-plus members, I thank Jerry for his dedication and hard work, which will have a lasting and meaningful impact, and I congratulate him on his retirement,” Goldberg added.

NAR said in a press release that Giovaniello's successor will be named by the end of the year.