Nancy Fennell was six
months pregnant and new to
town when she started her real
estate career in Reno marketing
an area that most people
thought was out in the middle
of nowhere.
All that newness might
have intimidated a less adventurous
soul, but Fennell relishes
the chance to learn new territory,
a trait that has led her
to become one of Reno's most
prominent women in real
estate.
Now Caughlin Ranch, that
once-remote area, is one of the
prime residential communities
in the city. And Dickson
Realty, which Fennell owns
and runs with her husband
and partners, continues to
control the largest share of the
local residential real-estate
market.
Fennell and her husband,
Harvey Fennell, moved to
Reno 16 years ago to buy half
of the real estate agency from
his sister and her husband,
Fionna and Mark Combs. The
two couples ran the business
together, and then the
Fennells bought out the
Combs in 1989 and 1990.
Over the next several years,
the Fennells brought on partners
Reid Simmons and Jeff
Giesler, added a commercial
real-estate division and
focused on strengthening the
agency's position in the Reno-
Sparks market. Last year, the
team bought Incline
Properties so they could have a
presence in Incline Village at
Lake Tahoe, and recently the
agency started Dickson
University, a year-long apprenticeship
program for new
agents.
Nancy Fennell was the first
of the partners to stop selling
real estate and focus on running
the firm as president.
"I was ready, but you do
miss the thrill," she says.
"When selling, what I liked is
you could really help people.
You developed relationships
with clients that went beyond
buying and selling a house."
Fennell caught the realestate
bug in Nashville, Tenn.,
in the 1980s after buying and
renovating homes and seeing
the potential in a hot market.
A friend's mother was a
prominent Realtor there, and
Fennell says she bugged her
until she brought her on
board.
Before she got into real
estate, Fennell had been vice
president of marketing for a
large book distributor and a
large electronics distributor in
Nashville. Prior to that, she
worked as a buyer for
Bloomingdale's in New York
after graduating with degrees
in textile chemistry and fashion
merchandising. Fennell
had grown up in North
Carolina, the heart of the textile
industry, and as a girl
dreamed of a career in fashion.
But she went another direction
after she and her husband
moved to Tennessee, where
few fashion opportunities
existed.
Fennell's marketing experience
and energy made real
estate a good fit. She loved it.
Three years after she started
helping clients buy and sell
homes in Nashville, she and
her husband moved to Reno
to help run Dickson.
The key to thriving in real
estate, Fennell says, is the
desire to learn. "Good agents
never burn out. They're constantly
reinventing themselves
... They derive energy from
other people's energy and
have a great sense of giving
back to the community."
Fennell says those are the
kinds of people she and her
partners have sought for
Dickson, and the quality and
integrity of the agents have
driven the company's success.
Fennell smiles when she talks
about her agents the way
proud parents do when they
brag about their grown children.
"They are the best. They're
just the best. They're a constant
source of inspiration."
Employees play key roles
in deciding the company's
direction. Recently, for
instance, agents took part in a
focus group to decide how to
revamp the company's Web
site. "One hundred heads are
better than one," Fennell says.
Fennell talks with a sort of
contagious energy and enthusiasm,
often describing an
activity, whether it involves
work or play, as "a blast." She
serves on the boards of the
Nevada Museum of Art, the
Community Foundation of
Western Nevada and Sunwest
Bank. She was president of
the art museum's executive
board during the planning of
the new museum, which
opened in May.
During her 10 years on
the board, Fennell has
brought enthusiasm and
energy and has leveraged
resources to help the organization
grow, says museum
director and CEO Steven
High.
"She is forceful in doing
the things that need to be
done, and she does it with
such grace and charm that it
makes others want to do it,
too," he says.
Fennell is also a strong
supporter of the Women's
Fund and an active volunteer
at Reno High, where her son,
Thomas, is a sophomore.
This year, she chaired a
scholarship fund committee
and helped develop a program
that led every junior at
the school through mock
interviews. It was more new
territory to discover and
enjoy.
