Legacy Awards

Honoring Longtime Master Brokers Whose Professionalism and Leadership Elevated Miami Real Estate

2021 HONOREE: Christopher Zoller

Christopher Zoller, a broker-associate with Berkshire Hathaway Home Services EWM Realty, is one of the most respected and admired leaders in Miami real estate, committing decades of service to the profession and industry. He has served on the MBF’s Education Committee since it was established, and his exceptional record of service includes directorships with the National, Florida, and Miami Associations of Realtors; a tenure as the Miami Association’s Chairman in 2017; and recognition as Miami’s Residential Realtor of the Year in 2009. In his home city of Coral Gables, Zoller has served as chairman of the chamber of commerce, a member of the city’s code enforcement board, and past member of various other advisory boards. His philanthropic activities include the Chapman Partnership for the Homeless, Camillus House, Habitat for Humanity, United Way, Sylvester Cancer Center, Rotary Club of Coral Gables, and several local charities. Zoller is also a frequent contributor to The Miami Herald on a wide range of real estate issues and topics.

2020 HONOREE: Alicia Cervera Lamadrid

Miami-raised and Havana born, Alicia Cervera Lamadrid comes from a family whose name is synonymous with luxurious land holdings; she grew up surrounded by real estate, with both parents in the business (Alicia Cervera Sr. founded Cervera Real Estate, Miami's first real estate firm specializing in developer sales). Cervera Lamadrid joined her mother's firm in the early 1980s and rose the ranks eventually making her mark with such luxury condos as The Imperial, Villa Regina and Bristol Towers in the up and coming Brickell Avenue. She took on different roles and learned the business from the ground up.

While family ties may have initially drawn her into the high stakes world of multi-million dollar properties, it is her sharp business acumen and personable, people-first attitude that keep her among the major players in the industry.

After years of successfully representing Miami's top developers, the Related Group invited Cervera Lamadrid and Cervera Real Estate to join forces in 2000. The result was Related Cervera Realty Services (RCRS). In just ten years, under the leadership of Cervera Lamadrid, the full service real estate brokerage sold over 14,600 units, representing over $6.8 billion. When the marketplace began to shift in 2008, Cervera Lamadrid led sales teams to close over $720 million worth of units RCRS had represented in developer sales.

In 2011, Cervera Lamadrid was named Managing Partner of Cervera Real Estate and together with the company's leadership spearheaded an effort to expand the company base. Passionate about real estate, Cervera Lamadrid continues to lead by example, servicing developer client needs while also assisting associates with individual and bulk transactions. Today, Cervera Lamadrid oversees over $4.5 billion of real estate sales in both pre-construction and general real estate.

Active in the community, Cervera Lamadrid is the youngest founding member of the Master Brokers Forum established in 1992, and served as its chair from 2004 to 2008. During her tenure, the MBF achieved extraordinary growth in membership, and established itself as Miamis premier real estate membership organization. (She still serves as Honorary Chair.)

Cervera Lamadrid is active with the Downtown community through her Board positions at the DDA (Downtown Development Authority) Other Boards include the Miami United Way and “Hogar Clinica San Juan de Dios” in Peru, as well as advisory board member to the University of Miami “Master’s in Real Estate Development and Urbanism” Board. Alicia is a past member of the Mercy Hospital Foundation Board and the Host Committee to “Fashionably Conscious”, which raises funds for Coconut Grove Cares.

Cervera Lamadrid is a graduate of the University of Miami where she served as first Cuban Sophomore Student Government President. Cervera Lamadrid has received numerous accolades; she is a Lifetime Member of the Manchester Who’s Who Registry of Executives and Professionals. In August, 2006 she was featured as "The Achiever" by Miami Today, in 2007, she won “Best Entrepreneur” award by the Stevie Awards for Women in Business, and was finalist for South Florida Business Journal’s Business Woman of the Year award. She is recognized by the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce as “2011 Condo Broker of the Year” and by the Miami Herald as “2011 Miami Power Broker” and by SunPost Newspaper as one of Miami’s Power Women. In 2015 she won South Florida Business Journal Power Leader award. Alicia is married to Alberto Lamadrid and the mother of two children, Alicia and Tony.

2019 HONOREE: Darlene Dale

One of the original seven founding MBF board members, Darlene Dale has been a pillar of the Miami real estate community since 1970. She began her career in earnest with Cousins Realty (where her territories included Pinecrest, South Miami, and Snapper Creek Lakes) and from the outset, distinguished herself as a leading authority in land and office building sales, commercial realty, and of course, residential. .

In 1981, after lending her talents to a number of local offices, Darlene joined Esslinger Wooten Maxwell (EWM) and remained there for the duration of her remarkable career. Her diverse portfolio demonstrates an extraordinarily broad array of talents and service throughout South Florida, including record residential sales in Snapper Creek Lakes, multi-million-dollar home sales in Gables Estates, apartment complex deals in Broward County, and land, ranch, and farm transactions in Martin County.

This consistently excellent production earned Darlene inclusion in EWM’s elite Chairman’s Club from the year of its origination until her departure from Miami in 2016. In 2004, she was the top producer for EWM’s Coral Gables office and was also named one of the Top Ten agents in Miami-Dade County.

As an active and engaged MBF board member, Darlene’s most notable contribution was her service as the chapter’s liaison to the Miami-Dade County Crime Coalition, which passed legislation that dramatically improved safety and lowered crime rates throughout the region.

A native of Oklahoma, Darlene earned a scholarship to Oklahoma State University and studied journalism before serving as a civilian in the United States Air Force and piloting solo by the age of 19. She moved from Miami to her vacation home in the north Georgia mountains in 2016, and will soon make her permanent home in the town of Sharpsburg, Georgia (adjoining Peachtree City.)

2018 HONOREE: Charlette Seidel

For more than forty years, Charlette Seidel has been the managing broker for Coldwell Banker’s Coral Gables/Coconut Grove office, directing the activities of more than 200 associates. Under her leadership, the office has been ranked number one in the state of Florida, named a “Premier Office” for Coldwell Banker, and ranked number one in performance throughout the United States in the category of sales production. Charlette is a Presidents’ Council Manager for Coldwell Banker and holds the Global Luxury designation for luxury marketing. Her other designations include Certified International Property Specialist (CIPS), Certified Residential Broker (CRB), Certified Residential Specialist (CRS), and Transnational Referral Certified (TRe).

A native Miamian who was raised in Coral Gables, Charlette is a graduate of Sunset Elementary, Ponce de Leon Middle School, and Coral Gables Senior High. She later graduated from Florida State University with her degree in Latin American Studies. After spending eight years with Pan American World Airways as a flight attendant, instructor, and assistant manager of flight attendant training, she began her Miami real estate career in 1977 by joining The Klock Company Realtors (now Coldwell Banker), entering management one year later.

Charlette is a charter member of the Master Brokers Forum (MBF) and has rarely missed a meeting over the past 25 years. She credits the MBF for providing a wealth of information, countless good friends and colleagues, and “insider” knowledge on the latest Miami projects and developers.

Active in her community, Charlette is a Trustee member of the Coral Gables Chamber of Commerce, a Foundation Member of Villa Vizcaya, and Executive Board member of The Young Patronesses of the Opera (where she co-chairs the renowned National Voice Competition, held every two years in Miami.) She chaired the Professional Standards Committee for the Miami-Dade Board of Realtors for twenty years, and continues to serve the Miami Association of Realtors. She is a member of the Two Hundred Club of Miami, The Frost Museum, Fairchild Tropical Garden, and Coral Gables Museum.

2017 HONOREE: Ron Shuffield

Christopher Zoller (left) presents the 2017 "Legacy Award" to Ron Shuffield (right)

Ron Shuffield is CEO of EWM Realty International (EWM), a 53-year old real estate brokerage with 10 offices in South Florida, and an affiliate of Christie’s International Real Estate. As a part-owner of EWM since 1984, Ron sold EWM in 2003 to an affiliate of Berkshire Hathaway. EWM has 900 associates and staff who are involved in South Florida residential and commercial real estate sales, which are approaching $3 billion annually.

Ron has been a member of the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce since 1977, where he currently serves as a member of the Board of Governors. He is also a founding member of the Beacon Council, Miami-Dade’s economic development agency, where he currently serves as a member of the Executive Committee. He has also served as chairman of the Coral Gables Chamber of Commerce and the Coral Gables Community Foundation. He is a past recipient of the Robert B. Knight Outstanding Citizen Award for his involvement in the Coral Gables Community. He was also honored in 2003 as an inductee into the South Florida Business Hall of Fame by The Florida Council on Economic Education; and, in 2010 was selected as one of Miami’s “Ultimate CEOs”. In 2013, he was awarded the “Power Leader” award by the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce and in 2015, the Coral Gables Chamber of Commerce presented him with their Business Leader of the Year award. Ron also serves on the boards of Baptist Health South Florida and The Kirk Foundation.

Ron is a graduate of the University of Tennessee and he has also been a member of the University Baptist Church in Coral Gables since 1976, where he is a past chairman of Deacons. He and his wife have three grown children.

2016 HONOREE: MBF Founder Helen Jeanne Nicastri

Jeff Morr (left) presents the 2016 "Legacy Award" to Helen Jeanne Nicastri (right)

The MBF was established by Helen Jeanne Nicastri and local banker Milton Wallace in February 1993. It began as a small network of Miami real estate agents from competing brokerages, in response to the devastation of Hurricane Andrew that previous September. During this challenging time, the group shared information and resources in the spirit of camaraderie and professionalism. More than 20 years later, the MBF has more than 400 members between its Miami and Gold Coast (Broward and Palm Beach County) chapters.

While overseeing the MBF’s dramatic growth and achievements, Jeanne also became one of Coldwell Banker’s most productive and successful Miami agents, earning the “Top Residential Realtor” award in 2010 from the Greater Miami Association of Realtors; “Top Individual Realtor” honors in Southeast Florida from Coldwell Banker in 2012; the “Number One Individual Residential Realtor” honors from the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce at its 2013 Real Estate Achievers and Leaders (R.E.A.L.) Awards; and the “Number One Top Producer” honors from Coldwell Banker Coral Gables in 2014 and 2015.

Long before it became standard in Miami real estate, Jeanne has recognized the importance of international connections, and participated in numerous global conferences and symposiums. She has represented Coldwell Banker and Miami at MIPIM, the top real estate summit in the world, for 13 years, and is a longtime member of the esteemed FIABCI (International Federation of Realtors Worldwide), serving as president of its Miami Council. Jeanne has also been a feature speaker on the “State of the Real Estate Market” for the Miami-Dade County Commission, as well as for the Miami International Real Estate Congress.

2015 HONOREE: Consuelo Stewart

Consuelo Stewart is one of the region’s most successful and recognizable agents, with more than 35 years of service in Miami’s Coral Gables, Cocoplum, Pinecrest, and Key Biscayne neighborhoods. Known for her unrivalled focus and work ethic, she began her career as a Realtor-associate in the 1970s and then went on to become a broker, often selling the same high-level properties for her clients three or four times over. She co-founded Earnest and Stewart in the 1980s, and in 2008, joined forces with friendly rival Teresita Shelton to form Shelton and Stewart, later joined by Teresita Shelton Bernace.

2014 HONOREE: Teresita Shelton

Teresita Shelton was born in Havana, Cuba in 1940, of Irish and Scottish ancestors. She attended the University of Villanova in Havana and received an Associate Degree in Business. Teresita began her career in real estate as a self-proclaimed “bored housewife” in Puerto Rico, where her husband had been transferred. While living in a neighborhood of brand-new, mostly unsold homes, she convinced the developer to let Teresita use her own residence as a model home – and promptly sold them all.In Miami, she joined her sister at Prats and Associates; at the time, the city’s largest Hispanic-owned realty firm. She opened her own office 18 years later as Shelton and Brizuela, then as Shelton and Associates in 1998. In 2002, her daughter Tere Shelton Bernace (a Yale graduate who had spent 14 years with Barclays Bank) joined her and in 2009, former competitor Consuelo Stewart also joined her, forming the highly reputable South Miami-based Shelton and Stewart office we know today. During her 35-year tenure selling Miami real estate, Teresita has helped hundreds of agents start their careers, while also advising and mentoring seasoned associates. In the greater Miami real estate community, she is highly respected as a cooperative problem solver; one who always has a creative solution to help close a deal..

2013 HONOREE: Rosalie Elliott

Helen Jeanne Nicastri (left) presents the 2013 "Legacy Award" to Rosalie Elliott (right)

Rosalie Elliott became a realtor after raising five children and serving on various boards and associations. She credits this volunteerism with providing a “jump start” for her business career, creating a wide number of contacts and honing negotiating skills. In 1969, she earned her license and joined Stadler Associates; specializing in luxury properties throughout Miami In June 1989, she broke the million-dollar barrier for non-waterfront homes In 1990, she moved to Prudential Florida Realty, which was later purchased by Arvida, which was later bought by Coldwell Banker – where she retired in 2006.Throughout the years, she worked with clientele from all over the world and was referred by the local branches of many, many major corporations, banks, airlines, hospitals, etc.

2012 HONOREE: Jeanne Baker

Jeanne M. Baker’s extraordinary career in South Florida real estate blazed a trail for thousands of successful women in the industry. She accomplished this legacy through a potent mix of style, dedication, and a passionate commitment to fairness.Ms. Baker began her career in the 1960’s, working for Abe Eiserman. She very quickly the company’s sales leader, surpassing her male (and more experienced) contemporaries. She soon joined forces with Polly Hill of Polly Hill Realty, where the two earned some local celebrity for wearing their trademark high white “go –go” boots; a popular fashion statement of that era.In 1973, she opened Jeanne Baker Realty, Inc. in Miami, where she enjoyed enormous success as both an broker and owner. (When she sold the company in 1996, it had six offices and nearly 600 agents.) In so doing, she broke the “glass ceiling” for not only herself, but also for hundreds of women who found financial and career independence through real estate. Ms. Baker and her son, David Popham, later re-opened the company in 2003, where she continues to practice and mentor future generations of real estate professionals. Ms. Baker is most proud of her reputation for honesty and fairness with everyone in real estate, as well as in her own personal relationships. She is also immensely proud of her long association with the Master Brokers Forum, and thanks her colleagues for this fabulous recognition.

2011 CO-HONOREE: Alicia Cervera, Sr.

Known as both the “Queen of Brickell” and the “Grand Dame of Miami real estate,” Ms. Cervera is the founder of Cervera Real Estate, one of Miami’s leading real estate firms. Over the course of 40 years, Ms. Cervera is responsible for breathing life into new communities and revitalizing existing ones such as the once dormant Brickell area, the cosmopolitan South of Fifth neighborhood in Miami Beach and the new urban Biscayne Boulevard Corridor. She has sold hundreds of thousands of luxury high-rise condominium units, served as an invaluable consultant to the most prolific developers, and amassed dozens of personal and professional accolades for her work in the real estate industry. It is Ms. Cervera’s acute foresight, her comprehensive understanding of the local market, combined with her skill to attract clients from all over the globe and an intrepid approach to selling that made “Cervera” a household name in the South Florida marketplace. Ms. Cervera has left an indelible footprint on South Florida’s colorful real estate landscape, one that places undying resolve, honesty and integrity, and the constant quest for knowledge at the forefront of success.

2011 CO-HONOREE: Evelyn Framer

Ms. Framer created a real estate empire that began with dominance over the Miami Beach luxury market, and eventually expanded to all of South Florida. Ms. Framer accomplished this extraordinary feat through a mix of determination, hard work, ethical professionalism, and an appreciation for local history.

Ms. Framer earned her real estate license in 1969, and began her career working for Keyes Realty, where she became the number-one producer and sold the most expensive houses on Miami Beach year after year. In 1978, she established Framer Realty with a small team of associates which she considered her “extended family”, and the company became know as the finest luxury real estate boutique in Miami Beach. After an incredible 20-year run as an independent agency, Framer Realty was purchased by The St. Joe Company (which eventually became Coldwell Banker) in 1999. Her market expertise eventually ranged from Key West all they way up through the Palm Beaches. Ms. Framer continued serving her clients and market until 2008 when, at the age of 89, she moved to Arizona to be with her family.