by Baldev S. Gill, Chief Executive Officer
Every day, the Board relies on your personal information to serve you.
We phone you. We bill you. We register you (for courses and events). And most of all, email you lots of stuff to help you succeed in your work.
You probably haven’t really stopped to think about what we have in our membership database – why would you? – but, it is important for you to be aware of the information we collect from our members, what we do with it and most importantly, how we protect it.
For example, last fall, we did a targeted direct mail campaign – yes, with stamps! – mailing postcards to members to promote the benefits of volunteering as a Director of the Board. It was a great success.
You can appreciate our surprise when one member said, ‘Love the campaign, how did you get my home address’? Through your initial membership application of course, but we understand how easy it would be to forget that.
So, in addition to your name, membership number, role (REALTOR® or Broker), office info, and photo, FVREB’s membership database contains your home address, cell number, email addresses and personal website URLs and billing information. We also document your professional education, volunteerism at the Board and any Medallion qualifications. (For the record, no birthdates, just membership start date.)
What do we do with your personal info?
First and foremost, we protect it. Just as you and your Brokerage are responsible for protecting the privacy of your clients, the FVREB is committed to maintaining the security, confidentiality, and privacy of our members’ personal information.
Introducing FVREB’s new FVREB Privacy Officer
To this end, we are pleased to announce the appointment of the Board’s new FVREB Privacy Officer, Aaron Bockner.
Aaron is a Technical Advisor for our Professional Standards department – working alongside Professional Standards Advisor, Paul Cowhig and Compliance Lead, Alana Martens – and now Aaron also wears the hat of our Board’s Privacy Officer.
That’s a fancy way of saying he oversees the protection of your personal information and privacy.
“I’m proud to accept this added responsibility. Our members are our customers. We have an important responsibility to ensure their personal data is held as safely as possible.”
Aaron’s duties include ensuring that the Board is compliant with BC’s Personal Information Protection Act (PIPA), Canada’s Anti-spam Legislation (CASL) and other related privacy laws.
These laws apply to how personal info is collected, used, shared and retained. In summary, FVREB collects personal information to serve you and communicate with you, as outlined in our updated Member Privacy Policy on REALTOR Link®.
If you have any questions, concerns or complaints regarding the use and protection of your personal info, please email Aaron Bockner or call him directly at (604) 930-7610.
