OUR TEAM
Melanie Burgin | Enrollment Advisor
Meet Melanie Burgin, Enrollment Advisor for Agent Real Estate Schools. Melanie comes to ARES with lengthy experience in fostering positive customer engagement.
Melanie has held positions in noteworthy companies and worked independently with community organizations. For example, during her time working with Santa Barbara County, she worked collaboratively with the community to find innovative solutions to assist Santa Barbara County residents in living healthy, resilient, and financially secure lives. For her efforts working for C.A.C of Santa Barbara County, she received accolades in the form of Best Sales Rep for 2005 for Community Action Commission Award.
With over 30 years of sales, hospitality and community outreach, Melanie brings a unique wealth of knowledge and experience to her position as Enrollment Advisor at Agent Real Estate Schools. She has a passion for guiding students through their enrollment process, creating a positive and seamless transition into their future careers in real estate.
Billie McDonald | Enrollment Advisor
Meet Billie McDonald, Enrollment Advisor for Agent Real Estate Schools. Billie brings with her a long history of corporate experience working developing Country of Origins for seafood to meet government requirements at Stater Brothers Markets, a national grocery store chain.
With 35 years of experience in the retail industry, Billie has managed hundreds of employees, training them to cultivate relationships with outside vendors and introduce new products in various store locations. One of her expertise as a specialist in her field was innovation in the care of seafood products and setting new industry standards.
She holds very high standards for herself in everything that she does and brings that attitude to her approach in her role as Enrollment Advisor. Her passion in her role is to make every experience a positive and memorable one, for each student whom she advises.
Denessa Sims | Creative Director & Head of Marketing
Meet Denessa Sims, Creative Director and Head of Marketing for Agent Real Estate Schools. Denessa comes to ARES with years of experience in marketing, global brands both in America and abroad.
Before moving back to California Denessa was a partner in a 360-degree media, marketing, advertising, and branding agency in Dubai. During her time there, she grew the company to staff 14 employees ranging from design, motion graphics, advertising, marketing, and strategy. She was both creative director of the company as well as brand development and marketing strategy for multiple global clients. Her clients consisted of Mercedes Benz Dubai, Cove Beach, Lorna Jane, Keller Williams, partnerships with Gumball 3000, Caesars Hotel, and a multitude of food & beverage, hospitality, real estate, and retail brands.
She has experience conceptualizing and managing global marketing initiatives for everything from Real Estate to health and wellness brands and she brings that creative fluidity to Agent Real Estate Schools. In her role as Creative Director and Head of Marketing, she has managed to grow the online presence and engagement while also creating a unique student experience of the brand. Her focus remains on creating brand loyalty and continuity, giving a consistent experience to the students while innovating the digital experience, expanding the industry's base.
Robert Schantz | Lead Instructor
Robert is a graduate of California State University Chico, with a degree in Business Administration-Finance and is a licensed California Real Estate Broker. Robert had an impressive career in Sales &Marketing with various media publications and he was also Vice President of Systems & Operations for one of San Diego's largest specialty retail chains. Robert career in Real Estate began in 2002 with a focus on Residential needs. He found his niche in selling "vertical" living spaces in Downtown San Diego
working for a reputable local developer. Robert was instrumental in helping this builder deliver approximately 514 luxury high rise residential units to the downtown San Diego market. During this time he also attained his Brokers License in 2006. He joined Keller Williams Realty in December 2006 as an Broker Associate and joined the Leadership Team in August of 2007. He has coached over 500+ agents in the past decade where he started as one of the first Productivity Coaches in the nation with Keller Williams. He also serves as Managing Broker for the San Diego Metro market center where they are #1 in their market and #13 in the entire county. Robert enjoys spending time with family and friends and also enjoys gourmet cooking.
Tessa Sims | CEO
Meet Tessa Sims, CEO of Agent Real Estate Schools. Tessa is no stranger to success. She has spent decades coaching, recruiting and leading others to obtain their dreams.
Most recently Tessa served as the Team Leader (i.e., equivalent to a CEO in corporate America terminology) at a San Diego Keller Williams office. However, when she came on board, the brokerage was failing. Because of her reputation for being an aggressively savvy top talent recruiter of all-star agents, she soon took the agent roster from 37 in 2007 to 267 by 2017 resulting in increased closed sales volume by a whooping 94%. In fact, when the San Diego Business Journal released rankings for 2017, the office was honored by being named the #1 largest individual Keller Williams Franchise in San Diego!
Nominated twice as sales manager of the year by the San Diego Association of REALTORS, and consistently ranking in the Top 3 for performance metrics in Southern California KW regions and profitability, when asked how she did it, she said, “It’s always about the culture. When the team is growing, the company is growing.”
Tessa’s “secret sauce” is her core belief that the more she invests in her team, the better the results and the team members’ growth.
Her newest endeavor started as a passive entity that grew organically since 2013. In 2018 she made it a full-time venture leading the KW Real Estate Schools, recently transitioned to Agent Real Estate Schools. “My vision” she shares, “is to work with people that are chasing a dream of launching a career in real estate.” Because her strengths lay in developing business, building empires, creating long-term vision, and building a culture and experience, Tessa Sims has no problem blazing trails in creating not just a corporate shell, but the ability to handle individuals with velvet gloves and a big heart.
“I love helping others build their future. Serving as the CEO of Agent Real Estate Schools allows me to do just that.”