West Coast

Ken Stevens,
Founder / CEO
Accelerated Marketing Group
Builder Marketing Services, LLC

Ken Stevens is the founder and chief executive officer of Accelerated Marketing Group - Builder Marketing Services, LLC (AMG), a national, full-service real estate marketing firm specializing in conventional and accelerated marketing campaigns.

Stevens spearheads the development and implementation of conventional and accelerated marketing and sales programs throughout the west coast. His team offers comprehensive market research and analysis, as well as strategically designed and efficiently implemented campaigns. In 2008 alone, Stevens and AMG were actively engaged in auction marketing campaigns in major cities, including Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Jacksonville, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Orlando, Phoenix, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, Washington DC, and West Palm Beach.

Prior to founding AMG, Stevens was a principal and member of the board of Kennedy Wilson International, one of the largest real estate auction marketing firms in the world, from 1987 to 1996. During his tenure at Kennedy Wilson, Stevens established offices in Northern California, Australia, U.K. and Hong Kong and oversaw marketing for all residential and commercial sales programs. He was an instrumental player in Kennedy Wilson’s growth and in taking the company public in 1992.

Stevens also founded Matken Pacific Development, a company specializing in custom home building, land acquisition and entitlement. At Matken, Stevens worked with some of the country’s top publicly traded home builders, including Standard Pacific and KB Homes.

A real estate marketing expert with more than 30 years of experience, Stevens is frequently called upon as an expert source by media outlets such as the San Francisco Chronicle, Los Angeles Times, San Diego Union-Tribune, Contra Costa Times, KRON-TV, CBS affiliates, and more.

An Australia native, Stevens received a Bachelor of Economics degree, with a concentration on marketing and economic statistics, from Monash University in Melbourne, Australia. He currently resides in California.

Thomas H. Vetter, MCSP, MIRM,
President,
Accelerated Marketing Group
Builder Marketing Services, LLC

For almost 30 years, Tom Vetter has been at the forefront of real estate and resort sales and marketing. He has held senior management positions in prominent national and international investment banking firms, the hospitality industry and real estate/new home sales and marketing companies. Tom's successful results have produced more than 12,000 new home sales.
Tom currently serves as President of AMG based in Danville, California, a national new home company specializing in Auction, Event and Conventional-Retail Marketing. In this capacity, Tom leads business development efforts, focusing on auction And retail marketing for new home builders in Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego, Portland, Phoenix, Tucson, Salt Lake City, and Denver, as well as other markets throughout the West Coast and Hawaii.

Tom previously served as Division President, Accelerated Marketing for The Ryness Company and as Executive Vice President of Operations, Sales and Marketing, for the Western Residential Division of Kennedy Wilson International Real Estate Marketing and Investment Banking firm and Senior Vice President of Move.com.

Tom is as an active builder member of the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), the largest trade association in the United States. He serves as the Home Builders Association of California's representative on the NAHB Board of Directors.

In 2007, Tom was elected to the IRM Board of Trustees and was recently appointed to the NAHB/National Sales and Marketing Council (NSMC) Board of Trustees by Senior Officers of the NAHB. Tom was elected by the Institute of Residential Marketing (IRM) Board of Trustees to serve in its senior leadership as Secretary-Treasurer/Vice President Elect for 2009. Tom will be President in 2011. Tom was awarded the "Friend of the Institute Award" by the Institute of Residential Marketing in 2007. This is the highest honor awarded to an associate member, for dedicated service and devotion to the IRM.

Tom is a faculty member of the Institute of Residential Marketing and is a senior instructor for Understanding Housing Markets and Consumers (IRM I), Marketing Strategies, Plans and Budgets (IRM II), Lifestyle Merchandising, Advertising and Promotion Strategies, (IRM III) and The Challenge of New Home Sales Management (IRM IV). Tom is also a principal instructor for Master CSP classes Effective Marketing on a shoestring Budget Essential Closing Strategies and House Construction as a Selling Tool. Tom is a regular speaker at the Southern Builders Show in Florida, The Sunbelt Builders Show in Texas and the Pacific Coast Builders Show in San Francisco.

He is a member and serves on the Board of Governors for the Builder Marketing Society (BMS), the international real estate association for marketing and sales professionals.

Peri Kost,
Senior Vice President
Operations,
Accelerated Marketing Group
Builder Marketing Services, LLC

Peri Kost is the senior vice president of operations at AMG. With more than 15 years of real estate experience, Kost specializes in national accelerated marketing and auction campaigns.
Prior to joining AMG, Kost served as senior vice president of event operations for Newhomesemarket.com, a Web-based new home sales and marketing company.
Kost has also served as senior vice president of event operations of accelerated marketing systems for the Ryness Company and as a northern California regional director of operations for the western residential division of Kennedy Wilson International, a real estate auction and investment banking firm.

Linda Johnson,
Senior Vice President
Event Operations,
Accelerated Marketing Group
Builder Marketing Services, LLC

Linda Johnson is the senior vice president of event operations for AMG. She oversees strategic marketing programs for key clients on the west coast.
Prior to joining AMG, Johnson worked with some of the top financial institutions, developers, lenders and other real estate industry leaders. She is a top-grossing real estate professional with $1.5 billion in sales throughout her career. Specializing in market research and analysis, advertising, promotions and sales, Johnson has years of experience managing sales and marketing for a range of new residential projects throughout Southern California, including high-rise developments and single-family home communities.
Johnson has been recognized by the Sales & Marketing Council in 2002 as Sales Manager of the Year at the Major Achievement in Marketing Excellence (MAME) awards and in 2003 as Sales Manager of the Year at the Inland Empire Sales and Marketing Council’s annual Laurel Awards.