Michelle Mills Clement

Clement took the top job at the Chicago Association of Realtors as the organization faced growing political scrutiny and a renewed attention to its own history.

The Chicago native became CEO in 2018 after a career running professional trade organizations, including commercial real estate groups in Seattle. She returned to Chicago to lead CAR during a period of mounting legal and policy pressure on organized real estate.

In the wake of the National Association of Realtors’ anti-trust settlement over commission practices, Clement has been ramping up CAR’s public affairs efforts to educate consumers on the value of real estate agents.

She is the first Black CEO in CAR’s 138-year history, leading an organization that perpetuated segregation in the city and in the past barred Black real estate professionals from joining its ranks. After being named CEO, Clement led CAR in issuing a formal apology acknowledging the group’s role in promoting segregation in the city.

She helped launch the organization’s “The 77” committee, which advocates for fair housing and economic development in each of Chicago’s 77 neighborhoods. Clement has described that work as “deeply personal,” noting that segregation’s effects remain present in the city’s housing market.

“We have a number of members today who can remember not being allowed to join this organization not that long ago,” Clement said. “And that is something that I think you have to have empathy for and you have to be humbled to understand that this is not that far removed.”