Chip Roach, Volunteer of the Year, talks about volunteerism, importance of community involvement
/Considering the range of island causes with which he’s involved today, the Sanibel & Captiva Islands Chamber of Commerce award should come as no surprise. Mr. Roach chairs the Charitable Foundation of the Islands Board of Directors and served until recently on the boards of the Sanibel Sea School, the Sanibel Captiva Conservation Foundation and Captiva Chapel by the Sea.
Prior to becoming a Sanibel resident in 2007, he spent close to 40 years in the real estate business with the Roach Brothers, the firm his father and uncle started in the Philadelphia suburbs in 1948. He began there in 1966, after graduating from the University of Notre Dame.
Over four decades, he worked in the industry, first as a sales associate then rising to senior executive as the firm grew from dozens of sales associates to some 4,000 by the year 2000. He sold his interest to his partners in 2003, when the firm was the fifth largest privately owned real estate services company in the country. He retired in 2007, becoming a Sanibel resident.
During his years in real estate, Mr. Roach served on boards of nonprofit organizations as well as two state Realtor associations and the National Association of Realtors. He chaired the boards of Rosemont College, his local Chamber of Commerce, a national real estate referral service and the MLS system for 33,000 Realtors in the Philadelphia region.
Chip and Nancy Roach have been married for 60 years. They have three children and five grandchildren. They divide their time among Sanibel, Wayne, PA, and the New Jersey shore. All of their children are active in real estate, the fifth generation of the Roach family to follow this path.
How did you get involved in civic engagement on the islands? Any advice for others interested in getting started?
We bought a home here in 2004 and played “pre-snowbird” while I was still working in real estate in the Philadelphia region. I retired in late 2007. In 2009, I was asked to join a search committee at Captiva Chapel by the Sea. At about the same time I became a board member of the Sanibel Sea School.
I let people know I was passionate about these organizations, found out the names of the leaders, met them and, finally, asked lots of questions. Always be the one with the questions. But brace yourself: They might take this as a sign of great interest.
Chip and Nancy Roach
Who taught you about civic engagement?
My parents were active with the community as part of their weekly activities – church, school and organizations. My most vivid recollection is when I was a teenager and my younger sister dealt with the onset of epilepsy. My father’s response was to join with some other parents to start a local Philadelphia chapter of the national Epilepsy Foundation. He also began counseling school teachers about the disorder. He was an expert at fundraising and established a Golf Day fundraiser in the early 1960s. Our youngest son has just been given an award for running this golf tournament, Charley Roach Golf Day, for the past 25 years.
How has Nancy, your wife of almost 60 years, influenced your perspective on volunteerism and generosity?
She is the bighearted, firm-handed one, very organized, very caring. Our marriage is built on giving to our three kids and three of her siblings who were minors when her parents suddenly passed away within 18 months around 1970. That teaches you to focus outward and to work as a team out of necessity. We both have those giving genes in our families.
You could be playing golf and relaxing, but instead you chose to become deeply involved in the important work being done on the islands. You’re a longtime Kiwanian, have served on the Sanibel Sea School and SCCF boards, and you and Nancy have long volunteered with Chapel by the Sea. What does this service mean to you?
My golf handicap is 24, so that’s not a basis for a satisfying retirement. Being engaged is a chance to find folks in need and help them lift themselves up. Some of my board work has been to improve the way in which organizations function at the board level. The Captiva Chapel and the Sea School needed fundraising help when we got involved and few people are interested in that kind of work. We both find fundraising an art form if you do it right. It’s about listening to people and understanding their values, then asking them to help.
What stands out as your favorite experiences involving civic engagement?
Charity and philanthropy are drivers of communities as we know them. Recognizing that as I worked all of my life in real estate home sales was an awakening. As my business grew through mergers and acquisitions the result of joining many brokerage companies together in the 1990s, it became apparent that we could become a force in the philanthropic arena in the Philadelphia area.
So, one of my biggest thrills was joining with my partners to encourage our 4,000 sales associates to give back with each real estate closing by matching their donations. It gave me a chance to see really exciting and effective leaders in the nonprofit world in a three-state area in the fifth largest metropolitan area in the country. I was the PR partner for the firm, so I got to be the guy in the photo with the head of the charity and our check.
During my career I became drawn toward a board of directors type involvement. Some of my best experiences with other people occurred in those boards, especially in the most challenging times.
I am very proud of our work here – especially since Ian. The three underpinnings of the Charitable Foundation of the Islands – philanthropy, leadership and collaboration – have hastened our community’s recovery here. They are central qualities on which to build a life.