Leslie P. Sellers, MAI, SRA
PRESIDENT

Leslie P. Sellers, MAI, SRA, became the president of the Appraisal Institute on Jan. 1, 2010. He serves on the organization’s Executive Committee – along with the president elect, vice president, immediate past president and chief executive officer (non-voting) – and also serves on the Board of Directors.

Sellers has been a member of the Appraisal Institute for 30 years. He served as president-elect in 2009 and as vice president in 2008. From 2002 to 2007, he represented Region IX on the Board of Directors.

In 2007, he headed up the Chapter-National-Regions Project Team, and was co-chair of the 75th Anniversary Project Team. He served on the national Audit Committee from 2003 to 2005, and was chair of the committee in 2004 and 2005. He was a member of the Strategic Planning Committee in 2005 and 2007. In addition, Sellers was a member of the project teams that formulated and implemented the Appraisal Institute’s current governance structure.

Sellers is an Appraisal Institute certified instructor and seminar author and has served on the Education Committee. He also has held various offices for the Volunteer State Chapter, including serving as president in 1999.

Sellers resides in Clinton, Tenn., just outside Knoxville, where he is the owner of several real estate companies, offering real estate appraisals, property management, brokerage, development and investment services.

Joseph C. Magdziarz, MAI, SRA
PRESIDENT ELECT

Joseph C. Magdziarz, MAI, SRA, is the 2010 president elect of the Appraisal Institute. He will become the president Jan. 1, 2011.

Magdziarz has been an active member of the Appraisal Institute for 38 years. He has served in a variety of capacities at all levels of the organization, including as vice president in 2009.

At the regional level, Magdziarz has served two terms as regional vice chair and two terms as Region III chair. He has also been a regional representative for many years. On the national level, Magdziarz served two terms on the Appraisal Institute’s national Board of Directors. He has served as chair of the Education Committee for five years and has also chaired the National Audit Committee, Instructor and Faculty committees, as well as the Education and Publications committees. In addition, he has served on a number of project teams.

Magdziarz has been president of Appraisal Research Inc. in Rockford, Ill., for 38 years. He resides in Rockford with Sandra, his wife of 41 years, and his bulldog, Bella.

Magdziarz is an approved Appraisal Institute instructor for 26 courses in the Appraisal Institute’s qualifying education, continuing education and Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice curriculums. He has also participated in international assignments in Naples, Italy; Istanbul, Turkey; Seoul, South Korea; and Beijing, Tianjin, and Shanghai, China.

Sara W. Stephens, MAI
VICE PRESIDENT

Sara W. Stephens is the 2010 vice president of the Appraisal Institute. She serves on the organization’s Board of Directors and on its Executive Committee.

Stephens has been active at the Appraisal Institute’s chapter, regional and national levels for 20 years. She served two terms as president of the Arkansas Chapter, is the chapter’s current Education Committee chair and has served as both chair and member of the Nominating Committee. She is also a member of the Board of Directors of the Arkansas Chapter of the Appraisal Institute. She attended the Leadership Development Advisory Council three years and was chosen to return a fourth year as a discussion leader. Her topic focused on the designation requirements of the Appraisal Institute.

Stephens is a member of the Board of Directors of the Appraisal Institute, currently serving as chair of Region IX (Arkansas, Louisiana, Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia and South Carolina) and chair of the National Audit Committee. She is also a member of the Admissions Designation Qualifications Committee, where she served as chair of the 2008 project team that formulated and implemented an alternative demonstration appraisal report format. As a member of ADQC, she serves as a member of a committee working on a review appraiser designation. Her committee service at the national level began as an Associate Member, where she was a representative to the Associate Guidance Committee.

Stephens graduated magna cum laude from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock with a degree in mathematics and English. She has a master’s degree from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, where she also completed some post-graduate work. She taught calculus, advanced trigonometry and algebra in the Little Rock Public School District and at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.

She is the owner and principal of Richard A. Stephens and Associates, the oldest appraisal firm in Little Rock. Along with her business partner and husband, Richard A. Stephens, MAI, SRA, she maintains a practice offering a broad scope of services, specializing in eminent domain, litigation support and real estate tax appeal.

Stephens is one of eight members of the American Society of Real Estate Counselors in Arkansas, and the only woman invited to membership in Arkansas.

Jim Amorin, MAI, SRA
IMMEDIATE PAST PRESIDENT

Jim Amorin, MAI, SRA, is the 2010 immediate past president of the Appraisal Institute. He served as president in 2009, as president elect in 2008 and as vice president in 2007.

Amorin has been actively involved in the Appraisal Institute in the areas of admissions, education, ethics and counseling, and serving in various chapter, regional and national leadership positions. Between 1998 and 2003, he held key offices in the Austin Chapter, including that of president in 2003. From 2004-2006 he represented Region VIII on the Board of Directors and in 2005-2006 served as chair of the national Audit Committee. As national vice president in 2007, he chaired the organization’s Finance Committee. Amorin also serves on the board of the Appraisal Institute Relief Foundation.

Amorin is vice president of Atrium Real Estate Services, a full-service real estate appraisal and consulting firm in Austin, Texas. He holds degrees in finance and real estate and urban land development from the University of Texas at Austin.

He belongs to the International Right of Way Association and the CCIM Institute. He also is on the board of the Green Building Finance Consortium.