A SHORT History OF THE ORGANIZATION

JUST AN INFORMAL MEETING
In 1929, A.C. MacNulty, the director of licenses in the state of New York , A.S. Wechsler, his assistant director, John N. Harkins, the chief examiner/investigator for the New Jersey Real Estate Commission, and Robert W. Semenow, director of the Pennsylvania Real Estate Brokers License Law, sparked the idea of forming a national real estate license law association.

The first organized meeting of the National Association of License Law Officials (NALLO) was held in Toronto Canada , in conjunction with the annual convention of the National Association of Real Estate Boards (NAREB, now NAR, the National Association of Realtors) in July 1930. A.C. MacNulty, the recognized "dean" of the then small corps of license law officials, presided in the absence of J.W. Jacoby of Ohio , who had been designated president. It is no exaggeration to say that MacNulty was the real father of NALLO (now ARELLO). He was responsible for the informal meeting in 1929 in Boston that set the stage for creation of the association and he truly carried the torch for the organization in the succeeding years.

FORMALIZING THE CONCEPT
At that meeting, the chairman appointed a committee to formulate a plan for a permanent organization. The members appointed were F.E. Butler, Alabama ; Arthur Crissey, Illinois ; Harry Wells, New Jersey ; M.J. Rudolph, Ohio ; and Robert W. Semenow, Pennsylvania , as chairman. This committee prepared a constitution and bylaws, which were thereafter adopted, giving the first official name to the organization – NALLO. Robert W. Semenow was elected secretary-treasurer at that time.

This fledgling association met in succeeding years at the same site as the NAREB convention. In the organization’s formative years, it was nurtured and helped considerably by NAREB, especially by NAREB administrator Lowell Baker, who helped arrange meeting rooms for the group.

Around 1950, the association sponsored drives to eliminate the advance fee racket, free lot racket and sale of sub-marginal subdivisions. The former “Rackets Committee” gained significant attention in the United States for NALLO through its cooperation at the local, state, and national enforcement levels. The association was represented at the hearings before the Permanent Sub-Committee on Investigation of the U.S. Senate by Colonel Donald McClure of California , who was then vice president and later president of the association.

A CLEAR IDENTITY
The association name was changed to the National Association of Real Estate License Law Officials (NARELLO) at the conference in Williamsburg , Virginia , in November 1965 and remained the same until it was changed to ARELLO at the annual conference in San Antonio, Texas, in October 1993 to better reflect the association’s growing international scope.

PROGRAMS AND SERVICES
The association began preparing an annual directory of license law officials decades ago, which now includes listings of non-regulatory organizations and is purchased each year by real estate industry representatives all around the world. The association’s internal newsletter is now called ARELLOgram, and became available in both English and Spanish in 2002. ARELLO’s executive vice president created in 2000 an external newsletter called [Boundaries], which covers regulatory trends and is available by subscription. ARELLO also publishes a digest of real estate license laws, which is a compilation of license law statistics, legislation, rules and regulations, educational requirements and a report on the current status of license recognition. Beginning in 1992 the association created and began administering a database of real estate disciplinary actions. A certification program for distance education delivery became available in 1998 and for licensing examinations in 1991.

ARELLO has also created a subsidiary organization called the International Distance Education Certification Center (IDECC), which offers ARELLO's distance education standards and review program to regulators and organizations outside of real estate.

ARELLO hosts several web sites: www.arello.org went online in 1997 for members, www.arello.com launched in 2001 for the public, and www.arello.net was created in 2000 for the distance education community. A significant ARELLO Internet project is the international database of licensees/registrants for online search, which is a joint effort with NAR and can be found at www.arello.com.

At the ARELLO meetings in Memphis, Tennessee, in October 2001, the organization voted to modify its membership requirements to allow entities that were attempting to implement a regulatory scheme to join the association as "associate" members, thus allowing them to benefit from ARELLO resources when they are needed most. This action poised the association's membership to continue to grow globally.

In 2001 and 2002, the association’s Board voted to send letters to U.S. federal authorities regarding the possibility of financial institutions being allowed into the real estate business without the licensing requirements that apply to current practitioners. Sandy Taraszki of Pennsylvania , 2001-2002 president of ARELLO, provided written testimony to a U.S. Congressional Sub-Committee considering this issue.

In 2003, the organization began hosting “Regulatory Roundtables,” which brought regulators and industry voices from areas like home inspections and timeshares to ARELLO conferences to provide a forum for those issues and to increase the value of conference attendance for those already planning to attend the main conference.

ARELLO has grown in stature and in recognition by adding to its international membership, by attaining financial stability and by formulating and adopting uniform policies and standards in the fields of education, administration and enforcement. The association is also attracting increased participation from year to year in activities, reflecting a growing interest by our membership and others in the effective administration and enforcement of the license laws and of the importance of regulation in a healthy marketplace.

Dr. Robert W. Semenow served as executive vice president of ARELLO from its inception in 1930 until 1977. Robert H. Petersen served six years as executive vice president. Stephen J. Francis served ARELLO as executive vice president from 1984 until 1998. Craig Cheatham served as both EVP and CEO from 1998 until mid-2006. Debbie Campagnola currently serves as Chief Executive Officer (CEO).