Mark Gordon, partner and broker at Christiania Realty in Vail, Colorado, has been elected President-Elect of the Colorado Association of Realtors (CAR) for 2027-2028. He will step into the role on December 1, 2026, with Brian Anzur of South Metro Denver serving as President and Janet Marlow, also of South Metro Denver, as Treasurer. The election was decided by CAR’s Board of Directors, approximately 120 members representing real estate associations across the state.
Gordon announced his candidacy in early 2026 and took an approach that stood out from typical political campaigning. Rather than broadcasting a platform, he made it his priority to have one-on-one conversations with as many of the 120 voting board members as possible. “I always think of a campaign as a conversation, not as a sales pitch,” Gordon said. “A conversation involves listening and talking, listening first and responding and engaging with people.” He sent handwritten snail mail cards to all 120 voters at the start of the campaign, drawing more responses than he expected. In the months that followed, he attended regional summits and conferences to genuinely engage with members from districts far removed from his mountain community.
Gordon has been unusually candid about his reasons for stepping into state leadership during a period he describes as unsettled. “Things are definitely in a transition and sometimes you feel like you might be standing on quicksand,” he said, referring to the broader shifts hitting the industry, from the National Association of Realtors settlement and its ripple effects on MLS structures, to the rise of AI, brokerage consolidation, and the ongoing affordability crisis. He sees organized real estate as one of the few forces capable of pushing back effectively. Earlier this year, Gordon was part of the CAR-led effort to defeat a proposed vacancy tax at the Colorado state legislature, which the association lobbied against alongside home builders and municipalities. The bill was killed in committee. “Advocacy works,” he said. “Realtors working together along with other organizations really can make a huge difference for homeownership and the American dream.”
Gordon’s base in Vail, a market that has historically moved differently from the rest of Colorado, has given him a vantage point that few Colorado brokers share. The Vail market is cash-driven, tracks closer to the Dow Jones than to interest rates, and is constrained by national forest boundaries that prevent the kind of sprawl that softens prices elsewhere. It tends to be, in Gordon’s words, “the slowest into corrections and the first to recover.” That experience working within a market with tight fundamentals and high-stakes buyers has shaped how he thinks about the issues facing realtors statewide. He currently chairs CAR’s Insight Advisory Committee, a think tank charged with identifying what is coming next for the industry, well before those issues reach the headlines. The committee is producing white papers for CAR leadership and membership throughout the year.
Gordon is not running from the hard questions. He has spoken openly about the role of artificial intelligence in real estate, arguing that agents who use AI as a replacement for human connection will lose ground, not gain it. “If every company uses AI without humans, they’re all going to be the same,” he said, referencing a conversation with an AI futurist. “It is only through the combination of AI and humans and the creativity that humans bring that you can differentiate your company or your real estate services from others.” He is equally focused on insurance availability, which he has described as one of the most pressing and underreported challenges facing Colorado homeowners today. He raised the issue directly with both of Colorado’s U.S. senators during a Washington D.C. trip with fellow realtors, pressing for federal-level engagement on what he sees as a growing access-to-homeownership problem.
As President-Elect, Gordon will spend the coming year preparing to lead an organization that represents thousands of Colorado real estate professionals. His path to the role, from Vail Town Council to Board of Realtors president to national director to state president-elect, reflects a career defined less by chasing titles and more by showing up where decisions get made. Gordon’s work in the Vail luxury market continues through Christiania Realty, where he has spent almost two decades helping buyers and sellers navigate one of Colorado’s most distinctive and resilient property markets.
This article is based on information provided by the expert source cited above. It is intended for general informational purposes only and does not constitute legal, financial, or real estate advice. Readers should conduct their own research and consult qualified professionals before making any real estate or financial decisions.
