Ward Lucas

Ward Lucas, has spent 40 years in investigative journalism and has won more than 70 journalism and civic awards for his reporting and writing. He has interviewed Presidents and nursing home residents, Secretaries of State to street people. From organized crime to wiretapping, to professional arson, Lucas has seen it all. In his book, “Neighbors At War”, Denver: Hogback Publishing, 2013, he presents startling information about how the modern Homeowners Association Movement is impacting Americans.
 

Ward has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science. He began his broadcasting career at the age of 16 hosting radio talk shows in Seattle, Washington. In 1973 he made the move into television broadcasting, first at KIRO-TV in Seattle and then at KUSA-TV in Denver Colorado. His investigative reporting has often stirred national controversy and has earned him numerous Emmy Awards and the enviable George Polk Award.

Don DeBat

Industry expert Don DeBat is a Pulitzer Prize-nominated author of four books on real estate and finance. As an award-winning former Chicago Sun-Times real estate editor, DeBat brings 27 years of newspaper reporting and editing expertise, and nearly two decades of media consulting to the organization. A consumer and housing advocate, DeBat has written hundreds of columns on condominium and homeowner association living. DeBat earned Bachelor of Journalism and Master of Arts degrees from the University of Missouri.
 

In addition to “Home Refinancing: Cashing in on Today’s Low Interest Rates”, New York: Contemporary Books, 1986, “The Mortgage Manual”, New York: Contemporary Books, 1986, 1989, and the “Chicago House Hunt Book”, Chicago: Chicago Sun-Times, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991. DeBat is co-author of the newly published “Escaping Condo Jail: Navigating the Risks and Surviving the Perils of the ‘Carefree’ Community Lifestyle”, Chicago: Sarandon Publishing, 2014.”

Shu Bartholomew

For more than 27 years, Shu Bartholomew has been actively involved with individual and personal property rights, especially as they pertain to residential associations.  Bartholomew realized there  was a lot of confusion about what residential associations were - and were not. To help demystify the HOA concept and provide a venue where all aspects of associations are discussed, she started a radio show called On The Commons, broadcast out of Radio Fairfax in Fairfax, Virginia.  The show made its debut July 1, 2000 and is a weekly one hour, in-depth interview.  

Bartholomew's guests include academics, attorneys, authors, advocates, activists, homeowners, judges, legislators, managers and members of the homeowner association industry.  Bartholomew believes that it is only by looking at all sides of an issue, listening to and understanding other perspectives that consumers will get a full picture of what they are dealing with.

Sara Benson

Published author and national speaker, Sara Benson has been featured extensively in publications including the Wall Street Journal, Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun-Times, Washington Post, Crain’s Chicago Business and Real Estate Metro Magazine.
 

Benson has been in real estate brokerage and appraisal for more than three decades. For 16 years, she worked with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development as an independent fee appraiser, compliance inspector and 203(k) construction inspector. She routinely performed both desk and field review appraisals for major Chicago-area banks to ensure Federal compliance guidelines were met. Her specialties include real estate brokerage, valuation, analytics, and feasibility analysis studies.

Michael J. Reilly

Michael Reilly has collaborated with numerous global partners to develop solutions for data acquisition and verification relating to condominium and homeowners associations.
 

Reilly purchased his first association-governed property in his early 20s and quickly became aware of the need for regulatory oversight. Reilly has more than 17 years of experience in operations, project development and management. Reilly also designs and implements complete life-cycle database applications with a wide variety of tools and languages. He excels in streamlining operations to gain comprehensive and wide-ranging efficiencies.
 

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Interested in connecting with the team? Please send an email to contactus@chppi.org and we will get back to you as soon as possible.