By By GREG KATSKI
Community Editor
There has been a change in the regime at the largest and most successful brokerage firm in Beaufort County.
Tom Atkins has been appointed as The Rich Company’s broker-in-charge and general manager, taking over duties from former Broker-in-Charge and current President Bob Rich and former General Manager Charles Phillips.
“It’s kind of monumental,” Rich said. “The company has pretty much had one managing regime since 1972.”
Rich said the company has weathered the economic storm and housing crisis successfully, and is looking for a better year of sales in 2010.
“We’ve weathered two years of it. Its built character,” he said.
Rich and Phillips said they are confident that Atkins can fill their shoes well and lead the brokerage firm to “greener pastures.”
Atkins has been a broker for The Rich Company since 2000, approaching sales of $55 million. He has served on the board of directors for the Washington-Beaufort County Board of Realtors, served as President in 2006 and was awarded the Realtor of the Year Award that year, according to a release from The Rich Company.
Atkins is also actively involved in the Washington community. He is a member of the Citizens for Revitalization, a charter member and past president of the Washington Noon Rotary and a member and past president of the Washington-Beaufort County Chamber of Commerce.
“I’ve always believed in being involved in the community. I just like being active,” he said.
Atkins is married to Georgia Anne Atkins, who is a broker with The Rich Company’s downtown Washington office. He was born in West Virginia, but raised in Washington after his family moved to the area in 1966. He attended Beaufort County Schools and went to East Carolina University before moving to Raleigh to pursue a sign business with his brother. He moved back to Beaufort County in 1981 to be involved in the family business, wholesale beer distribution. Atkins sold the family business in 1999 before coming to The Rich Company as a broker.
Atkins said he cut his teeth in trailer, or modular home, sales, becoming known as the “trailer king.”
The Rich Company also provides residential, commercial, farm and timber, lots, recreational and waterfront property real estate services.
As general manager and broker-in-charge, Atkins will oversee the firm’s two offices in Washington and The Rich Company of Bath.
“It’s a pretty strong task Tom has ahead of him,” Rich said.
With Atkins overseeing the brokerage firm, Rich said he and Phillips will focus on bringing in commercial and residential buyers.
“It’s sort of tunnel vision. We want to have clear heads to do what we do best,” he said.
Phillips said the two former heads of The Rich Company took their time in making the organizational change.
“This decision was not a quick one,” Phillips said. “Bob and I had discussed for several years our desire to spend less time in management and more time in commercial brokerage and development.”
The former general manager said that a lot of people in the community had the misconception that he and Rich were retiring.
“As soon as word of this change got out, we both got some erroneous calls congratulating us on our ‘retirement.’ This is definitely not retirement, just a ‘realignment’ of our areas of concentration, but with a continued involvement in the marketing of The Rich Company,” Phillips said.
The Rich Company has served eastern North Carolina’s Real Estate needs for over 38 years and has been the number one brokerage firm in the area during that time, according to a press release from the company.