ALISO VIEJO, CA, January 24, 2006 - Sixteen prominent and highly successful industry leaders, representing a large cross section of the industry, have all agreed to serve as judges and advisors to the Real Estate Apprentice Foundation. They will work with the Foundation in awarding more than $1 million in grants during 2007.

The Foundation, a Non-Profit Corporation, provides education, guidance, products and service via grants to new licensees every year. Its goal is to improve the overall success rate of rookies entering the industry and to help improve their overall level of professionalism.

At the height of the new influx of hundreds of thousands of new agents, the failure rate among these new agents was alarming. To meet that need the Foundation was formed in July of 2004. So far the highlights of The Foundation’s thirty-month history include:

• Processing over 11,000 applications from newly licensed agents in almost all 50 states.
• Proving education, consulting, mentoring, product and service grants to rookies with no strings attached or pay back required to the tune of $2,000,000 so far.
• Having Disney agree to allow the Foundation to use the song "Go the Distance" as the theme song on the "Making of an Apprentice" DVD.
• Having September 1st proclaimed Real Estate Apprentice day in Kansas.

The panel of 16 Judges for 2007 includes:

Mark Barker is a pioneer in adult education and the Founder of Career Education Systems (CES) in 1980, which is today widely recognized as the #1 real estate licensing school in the Midwest. CES has led both Missouri and Kansas in passing rates for over 25 years. 50,000 people have received real estate education and training at CES. The school is also a participating educator in the Real Estate Apprentice Grant Program.

Kimberly Gorsuch-Bradbury is SVP and General Manager with Real Estate Networks, RealEstate.com/LendingTree, LLC. Gorsuch is responsible for building and leveraging real estate businesses, including RealEstate.com as well as iNest and Domania. In addition, Gorsuch was responsible for mergers and acquisitions, including HomeSpace, GetSmart, ServiceMagic, and HomeLoanCenter.com.

Don Hobbs is Co-Founder of Hobbs/Herder, the nation’s largest advertising agency dedicated to creating corporate identity and marketing materials exclusively for real estate agents and brokers. Hobbs has spoken to more than 500,000 real estate professionals and is one of the most respected experts on personal marketing and effective business systems in real estate. Hobbs/Herder is also a sponsor of the Real Estate Apprentice Grant Program.

Scott Hoen, EVP and Division Manager for Fidelity National Real Estate has 27 years of progressive experience in the development and implementation of successful sales teams and marketing plans. Armed with a technology background and a solid understanding of how to use technology as a tool, Hoen personally developed several innovative tools for use by real estate professionals.

Frances Martinez Myers is the Chairman of The National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professional, and SVP for Fox & Roach/Trident, the nation’s 5th largest real estate company. Martinez sits on the Affordable Housing Advisory Council of Freddie Mac and the National Advisory Council for Bank of America. In 2005, Hispanic Business named her one of the top 100 most influential Hispanics in the U.S.

Jerry Matthews is a Real Estate Advisor who assists Realtor Associations, companies and individuals in designing and customizing their businesses for the future. Matthews has over 27 years of experience as CEO of the Florida and Illinois Realtor State Associations.

Justin McCarthy, Strategic Partner Development, Real Estate, Google Inc., is responsible for leveraging Google's volume of real estate searches for top real estate companies. To date, Google has enjoyed productive relationships with leading real estate companies – including, the major national full-service brokerages, such as: Coldwell Banker, Century 21, ERA, NRT, Prudential, and RE/MAX. McCarthy joined Google from DoubleClick Inc., where he was the General Manager, Entertainment & Travel Networks.

Linda McLean is the President and Founder of McLean International and has helped thousands of high profile as well as rookie agents achieve higher profits through improved leadership skills and organizational structure. McLean is also a CTA Certified Coach, an IML Certified Behavioral Consultant, as well as a John Maxwell Certified Leadership Trainer. McLean is a sponsor of the Real Estate Apprentice Grant Program.

Steve Ozonian is the Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of Realty Information Systems, Inc. dba Help-U-Sell Real Estate, one of the nation's fastest growing real estate franchises. Ozonian was former President of Realtor.com and Chief Executive Officer of Prudential Real Estate.

Ralph R. Roberts is a highly sought after speaker, consultant, author, and personal coach. Since he first started selling real estate in 1979, Roberts has sold over 10,000 homes. Time Magazine calls Roberts "The Best-Selling Realtor in America."

Scott M. Roecklein, is Sr. Vice President for First American Corporation’s Natural Hazard Disclosure Division. Prior to that, Roecklein was the CFO for First American SMS, a leading provider of settlement software. Roecklein previous worked as an independent consultant to the healthcare and technology sectors. First American is also a sponsor of the Real Estate Apprentice Grant Program.

Michael J. Russer, a.k.a. Mr. Internet, is an internationally recognized speaker, author and strategic consultant on the subject of business transformation. He is the father of the "Virtual Outsourcing" movement in real estate and author of the recent breakthrough book "The OBSOLETE EMPLOYEE - How Businesses Succeed Without Employees --And Love It!"

Thomas M. Stevens is the immediate Past President of the National Association of Realtors and former CEO and Owner of Coldwell Banker in Virginia. Stevens is also a past president of the Virginia Association of Realtors, where he was named "Realtor of the Year" by the state association in 1991, and local association in 1986. He also earned the Distinguished Service Award in 1978.

Stefan Swanepoel is widely recognized as the leading visionary on trends in the real estate industry. He has penned 13 Books and Whitepapers including the 1998 Amazon.com bestseller, Real Estate confronts Reality (1997), the sequel Real Estate confronts the Future (2004) and the annual Swanepoel TRENDS Report. Stefan serves as Chairman and CEO of RealtyU Group, Inc., a sponsor of the Real Estate Apprentice Foundation.

Vinnie Tracey is President of RE/MAX International since October 2004 and one of its Directors since August 2005. With 6,500 offices and 120,000 agents in 63 countries, RE/MAX is one of the largest real estate groups in the world. Tracey has also served in various other executive capacities within the RE/MAX Organization prior to 1987.

Katie Wyatt is the Real Estate Apprentice Grand Prize Winner for Season II. Today she serves as President of House Scouts and is an agent with Realty World Alliance Company in Wichita, Kansas. Prior to beginning her career in real estate, Wyatt worked in the nuclear power industry as a Maintenance Electrician, and a Maintenance Team Quality Facilitator.

Judges are responsible to evaluate the finalists and review applications based on criteria such as salesmanship, communication skills, entrepreneurial spirit, integrity, creativity and uniqueness. Names of the Winners and all finalists for Season V are scheduled to be announced February 21st.

Applications for Season VI are now open and can be submitted at no cost. To become more involved in helping the future of the real estate industry contact Deputy Executive Director Dr. Martin Oliver at 949-600-7188 or by email at Dr.Oliver@RealEstateApprentice.com