Named the highest-ranking woman and 4th overall Top Real Estate Influencer to Follow by Entrepreneur.com in 2017, Desirée Patno is a leader helping women establish strong economic foundations for the future. With over 26 years in real estate and championing gender equality, the CEO and President of Desirée Patno Enterprises, Inc. (DPE) and the National Association of Women in Real Estate Businesses (NAWRB) has left her mark on diverse real estate sectors, selling over 6,000 properties, providing relocation services for major Fortune 100 companies, and connecting entrepreneurs to billions of dollars in business resources.

Patno is a national speaker and commentator featured at several agencies, organizations and publications including the White House; MBA’s Annual Convention & Expo and Summit on Diversity and Inclusion; CIFS Financial Services Expo; National Women’s Business Council (NWBC), a nonpartisan advisor to the President, Congress and SBA; Million Women Mentors and others.

She resides on the Women Impacting Public Policy (WIPP) Leadership Advisory Council and Enterprising Women Advisory Board. In 2016, she was honored with HousingWire’s Women of Influence award and was selected the Small Business Administration’s (SBA) Women in Business Champion of the Year.

In 2012, Patno won the prestigious Enterprising Women of the Year award as well as HousingWire's Women of Influence award for the first time. NAWRB is honored to be one of only 11 organizations listed as a Women’s Entrepreneurship Partner for the SBA.

Since 2010, NAWRB has raised awareness of diverse opportunities, supporting the Office(s) of Minority and Women Inclusion (OMWI) which is tasked with the development and implementation of workforce and supplier diversity standards for the multi-trillion dollar housing sector. NAWRB contributes greatly to the success of the Women-Owned Small Business (WOSB) Program which presently awards $19.67 billion of federal small business contracts to women-owned small businesses.

Patno is the Publisher of NAWRB Magazine—winner of the APEX Award for Publication Excellence in 2015, 2016 and 2017—and is a monthly contributor to RISMedia’s Real Estate Magazine, National Mortgage Professional Magazine and various industry publications.