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 assume the role on December 1, 2026, serving alongside President Brian Anzur and Treasurer Janet Marlow, both of South Metro Denver. The election was decided by CAR’s Board of Directors, comprising approximately 120 members representing real estate associations across the state.
Gordon announced his candidacy in early 2026 with a distinctive approach: prioritizing one-on-one conversations with as many 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 cards to all 120 voters, generating more responses than expected, and attended regional summits and conferences to engage with members from diverse districts, including those far from his mountain community.
Gordon’s election comes at a time when Colorado’s real estate industry faces significant challenges, including the National Association of Realtors settlement’s impact on MLS structures, the rise of artificial intelligence, brokerage consolidation, and an ongoing affordability crisis. “Things are definitely in a transition and sometimes you feel like you might be standing on quicksand,” Gordon said, explaining his motivation to step into state leadership. He sees organized real estate as a force capable of effective advocacy, citing CAR’s successful effort to defeat a proposed vacancy tax at the Colorado state legislature earlier this year.
Gordon’s experience in Vail, a cash-driven market constrained by national forest boundaries, offers a unique perspective. The Vail market tracks closer to the Dow Jones than to interest rates and tends to be “the slowest into corrections and the first to recover,” according to Gordon. He currently chairs CAR’s Insight Advisory Committee, a think tank identifying emerging industry issues, and serves as an at-large director with the National Association of Realtors, representing Colorado’s small and medium boards.
On key issues, Gordon has spoken about the role of artificial intelligence in real estate, arguing that agents who use AI as a replacement for human connection will lose ground. “If every company uses AI without humans, they’re all going to be the same,” he said. He is also focused on insurance availability, which he describes as a pressing challenge for Colorado homeowners, and raised the issue with U.S. senators during a Washington D.C. trip.
As President-Elect, Gordon will spend the next year preparing to lead an organization representing thousands of Colorado real estate professionals. His career path—from Vail Town Council to Board of Realtors president, national director, and now state president-elect—reflects a commitment to showing up where decisions are made. Gordon continues his work in the Vail luxury market through Christiania Realty, where he has spent almost two decades helping buyers and sellers navigate one of Colorado’s most distinctive property markets. Learn more at vailcoluxuryhomes.com.
