Keller Williams Realty’s Leadership: Mary Tennant - President & Chief Operating Officer
Mary Tennant - President & Chief Operating Officer
Mary Tennant, who began her real estate career with Keller Williams Realty Inc. in 1992, says her initiation into the company was “like coming home.” Tennant thrived in the company’s agent-centric, learning-based culture. Her first year in business, she claimed the National Rookie of the Year title and quickly went on to team leader and regional positions within the field. Today, as the chief operations officer, Tennant is responsible for ensuring Keller Williams Realty’s international support center continues to provide its signature training and support to more than 57,000 associates in North America.
“Mary is a genius at building teams and developing efficiencies in staff and office operations,” Keller Williams Realty Vice Chairman Mo Anderson says. “She’s been in the field doing this for years, and she brings that perspective to us.”
In addition to her responsibilities at Keller Williams Realty International (KWRI), Tennant continues to serve in the field as the operating principal of the Austin Lake Travis market center and the regional operating principal of Keller Williams Realty’s Southern California Region. During her time as team leader of the Austin Southwest market center, Tennant increased the business’ annual closed volume sales from $90 million to $1.3 billion.
In 2003, Tennant also helped to establish Keller Williams Realty Cares (KW Cares), a public charity that provides emergency financial relief to Keller Williams Realty associates in times of extreme hardship. Today, she remains active in the organization as vice chairman of the board, and was very influential in helping the organization raise over $5.3 million for Katrina relief in 2005.
Tennant entered the workforce at age 43 when her husband’s oil business hit hard times in the mid-1980s. She went from raising two children and teaching horse back riding near their home in Colorado to working full-time in a medical clinic as a filing clerk. Tennant proved her mettle, rising to director of clinic operations in less than two years. She then moved on to work in an assisted living center, eventually becoming an owner and steering the business away from near bankruptcy to operating in the black with a 13-month waiting list.
In the early 1990s, the Tennants moved to Austin, Texas, so their children could attend college there. Always an entrepreneur, Mary earned her real estate license and researched several prospective employers. She says she found a win-win deal with Keller Williams Realty.
“Keller Williams Realty is an amazing product,” she says. “They had everything that was so important to me: culture, profit sharing and education. It changed my life and my family’s life.”
Mary and her husband, Jack, live in Austin, Texas. They have two children, David, 31, and Jessica, 30.
Mary specializes in the following courses:
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Action Training
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ALC Clinic
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Quantum Leap
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Recruit-Select