The Asian Real Estate Association of America (AREAA) announced Tuesday that Hope Atuel has been elevated from executive director to CEO.
Atuel has been executive director of AREAA since 2012. She assumed this role after first establishing herself as a successful professional at the College of American Pathologists and the Appraisal Institute.
AREAA president Tim Hur and the executive committee voted unanimously to elevate Atuel’s role in recognition of her many important accomplishments to the organization as well as her growing responsibilities leading the largest Asian-American trade association in the country.
Founded in 2003, AREAA is a national nonprofit trade organization focused on improving the homeownership rates of the Asian-American Pacific Islander (AAPI) community. The visibility of the organization increased last year with the rise of anti-Asian hate crimes, as AREAA worked to coordinate local education efforts throughout its 40+ chapters.
“Hope has been an invaluable asset to AREAA and has been a guiding force for us for a long time. She has leveraged her considerable experience in both private and nonprofit sectors to amplify our efforts and create invaluable partnerships to advance the organization’s mission,” Hur said in a statement. “AREAA would not be where we are today without Hope.”
Of her new role Atuel said: “I am deeply honored and humbled by this recognition from the AREAA Executive Committee and will continue to work collaboratively with our members and our partners on initiatives that further our organization’s mission. As CEO, I will ensure that we continue to make great strides in strengthening our nation’s communities by increasing AAPI homeownership rates and working with our community to showcase the opportunities homeownership brings while we work to identify and offer solutions to the challenges we face.”
During her time as AREAA’s executive director, Atuel grew the organization’s membership to over 17,000 members and 42 chapters. She was also instrumental in the success of AREAA’s “No Other” campaign which led to the creation of an ethnic category for Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPI) in the U.S. Census. She also worked with the real estate industry to showcase how the increased level of anti-Asian hate crimes during the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted homeownership. In addition, her work to better align partners in the mortgage industry has resulted in the reformation of credit scoring models, increasing access to mortgages for members of the AAPI community.