The Meetings team just doubled in size

It's easy to understand why Christy and Sabrina are smiling this week! Of course, the conclusion of Conference certainly eases some pressure on the hard-working team. But it also has a lot to do with welcoming two additional members of the team.

Many of us have met Connor Payne, who started on August 29 as Meeting Planner and was with us at the Texas REALTORS® Shaping Texas Conference. This week. on Wednesday, we welcomed Jeff Washler to the team as well, also serving as a Meeting Planner. As part of the planning team, Connor and Jeff are responsible for helpoing to organize and coordinate events, conferences, and meetings to ensure they run smoothly and result in great member experiences.

We're excited to welcome them both to the Texas REALTORS® Team.

Here are some fun facts that Connor shared with us:

• I was born and raised in Naperville, Illinois (a suburb outside of Chicago)

• I went to school at the University of Nevada Las Vegas, where I studied Hospitality Management with a concentration in Meetings and Events

• I have a pet Corgi named Oliver who is the light of my life

• I love to travel, and my favorite places to visit have been San Diego, Seattle, New York City, Barcelona, and Venice

• I’ll never say no to a good brunch

• Favorite movies/TV to watch: early 2000s romantic comedies and reality TV (huge Bravo fan)

• Favorite music artists: Ariana Grande, Taylor Swift, Kacey Musgraves, and Harry Styles

• Favorite beverages: iced coffee, Pinot Grigio, and margaritas

• Favorite Austin restaurants: Grizzelda’s, Bar Peached, and Two Hands

Jeff also shared these fun facts with us as well:

• Always lived on I-35: grew up in San Antonio, college at University of North Texas in Denton, moved to Austin in 2000 right after graduation

• Over 20 years meeting/event experience including hotels, resorts and Whole Foods Market Global Headquarters

• Played sports year-round growing up (baseball, swim team, basketball and soccer), still a big sports fan - Chiefs and Spurs are my favorites

• Once my basketball team played at halftime of a Spurs game in…..maybe 5th grade?

• My dog is famous, she was on the cover of the Whole Foods Market dog food bag for 8 years, sadly, they updated it at the beginning of the pandemic

• I swim 4 miles a week in a lap pool and get to Barton Springs as often as I can, several times a week, several times a day on weekends, even in the ‘winter’

• Big movie and streaming series fan

• I’ve known my best friends since 1st or 2nd grade

• Like to backpack/camp a couple times a year

• Use to prefer summer over winter but this year changed me, 105+ for two months straight was too much

• Take me to Home Slice Pizza for my last meal on earth please

• A friend turned me onto Franklin BBQ when it first opened, went a couple times when there was literally no line

• Excellent at parallel parking

• Rewatched every episode of The Office, Parks and Recreation, Modern Family and Seinfeld during the pandemic

• Weekends consist of - farmers markets, art markets, comedy shows, day road trips, hiking with my dog or at the dog park, Barton Springs, Zilker Park, riding my bike around Town Lake, taking my scooter around South Congress, at a nursery (I have about 35 plants at home), watching sports, visiting parents/childhood friends in San Antonio, live music, any festival Austin has that given weekend