IN PROFILE: ANNE GARDNER

HEAD OF

HOUSE

BY SAMANTHA KUPIAINEN | PHOTO BY MICHAEL CLINE SPENCER

ANNE GARDNER BRINGS DECADES OF LEADERSHIP EXPERIENCE

Anne Gardner had one goal she wanted to achieve before turning 40: become a chief executive officer. Today, she’s far surpassed her goal and has been in various CEO positions for more than a decade. Nearly three of those years have been in Wilmington as the CEO of Cape Fear Realtors.

Gardner joined Cape Fear Realtors in July 2019 after being recruited from Virginia, where she served as CEO of the Charlottesville Area Association of Realtors. Prior to that, Gardner spent many years near the Washington, D.C., area as the vice president of education and business specialties for the Northern Virginia Association of Realtors, which is where she got her first taste of working in the real estate industry in 2001.

“The thing I love about local Realtor associations is we know that the work we’re doing is affecting people that live, work and play in our community,” Gardner said. “I love the fact that the people I’m doing the work for, I’m going to run into them at the grocery store. I’m going to see them in the community. You develop a much stronger connection to the members you’re serving and the work you’re doing at your desk every day.”

In her role at Cape Fear Realtors, Gardner focuses on being a voice for private property rights and advocating for building diverse communities.

“We really do have a firm foundation in the fact that we should have private property ownership and equal housing as fundamental rights,” she said. “That’s where we’re spending a tremendous amount of our effort and time now going forward.”

On a larger scale, she and her team have worked to make the homebuying process easier, especially during the disruptions caused by the pandemic.

“A huge focus that we have right now is making sure that we’re partnering with organizations in the community on issues of diversity, equity and inclusion,” Gardner said about current efforts. “Really, just bringing ways that we can help grow businesses, whether it be partnering with chamber activities or other institutions and not-for-profits. I think being a partner in the community is how you can bridge past all of the various pathways to homeownership and say, ‘This is how we can make this better for everyone.’”

Since joining the association, Gardner has established a handful of goals she’d like to achieve, all of which tie into community building and leadership.

To start, she’s a member of Leadership Wilmington 2022, which strives to “educate, challenge, and motivate leaders and future leaders to utilize their leadership skills to work for the betterment” of the community. Through that course, she hopes to focus on building more connections and making an impact on her surrounding community.

“Anytime there is an opportunity to learn about our community and contribute, that’s what I’m looking forward to doing,” she said.

To be someone that others can count on and climb the ranks into a leadership position required Gardner to put in a lot of work on her end. For starters, she had to be diligent, curious and open to learning new skills.

She described always being willing to take on new challenges from time to time in her early 20s while she was fresh out of school from earning her bachelor’s degree in international studies from George Mason University.

Whenever she was afforded the opportunity to learn or take on a new challenge, she would “swallow, take a deep breath, and say ‘yes.’”

“It doesn’t mean you’re not intimidated by the idea of doing something you’ve never done or something new,” she said. “I just anchored my feet and said, ‘I’m going to learn, and I’m going to grow because if I want to take on more in life, I’m going to have to learn that.’”

Looking ahead to her future with Cape Fear Realtors, Gardner looks forward to continuing to partner with the community and enjoying the Carolina coast.

“I love this life, and it is absolutely positively a dream come true,” she said. “The opportunity to blend both where I love to live in coastal North Carolina with the career that I’ve built since 1993, it truly is a win-win.”

Anne Gardner was part of the most recent WilmingtonBiz 100 as an Influencer. Look for this year’s nominations to open in the fall and the new group to be announced in the December issue of WilmingtonBiz Magazine.