Meet Our Staff and Instructors

Alex Gillen:

Alex Gillen is a full time real estate agent and part time Administrative Support for Sea Coast Real Estate Academy. Alex successfully completed her Prelicense course in May 2019, and passed her NC License exam in June 2019, as well. Alex is an example of SCREA in action! She is happy to answer any and all of your questions about upcoming courses, keep you up to date on social media, and keeps the website up to date as well.

Donna Chase:

I love calling Eastern North Carolina my home! I have lived here my entire life, and have been a REALTOR® since 2011. I currently serve on the Board of REALTORS®, the Membership, Education, and Professional Standards Committees for the Jacksonville Board of REALTORS®. I am also a Real Estate Broker and REALTOR® who actively lists and sells with my team, Chase Realty Group of Coldwell Banker Sea Coast Advantage. I have been a Real Estate Instructor since 2016, licensed by the North Carolina Real Estate Commission, and teach in Jacksonville. Real Estate is my passion, and helping to educate and inspire others has always been a large part of who I am!

In my free time, my husband and I enjoy riding our bikes, sitting on the beach, and attending a variety of local live music festivals! We have two sons, a daughter, a son-in-law, and a few cats!

Gabriela Huffman:

Gabriela Huffman is a Wilmington, NC native and began her real estate career in 2011. She is a well rounded instructor, teaching Prelicensing, Postlicensing, Continuing Education, and Ethics. Students will choose to take her classes for her direct approach, the learning atmosphere, relevant real estate cases, detailed forms review, and no-broker-left-behind mentality. While in class, you can expect to learn more than just what’s needed to pass the tests, and have fun while doing it. On the other hand, you will be required to pay attention and keep distractions down, as everyone’s time is valuable!

Jason Thuringer:

The US Marine Corps brought me to Eastern North Carolina in 1993 and I haven’t been able to leave it since. After my honorable discharge in 1996, I married an Eastern NC gal and received a Bachelor of Science Degree in Business Administration from ECU. In 2015, I earned by real estate brokers license and have been full time in real estate sales since then.  I had 11 years of various other sales experience prior to entering real estate.  I am excited to begin sharing my knowledge with others, and to help our industry grow!

Jennifer Boyd:

Jennifer Boyd has been a real estate instructor since 2018. She teaches it all: Prelicense, Postlicense, and all forms of Continuing Education. Jennifer is an active real estate agent, working with both buyers and sellers, since receiving her licence in 2014. Her experience allows for real life examples to be discussed and examined in the classroom. She has realized her real estate passion lies in teaching, enjoys helping others become real estate agents, and loves seeing former students succeed. She is constantly creating new classroom exercises to enhance the curriculum. You’ll want to take Jennifer’s classes if you prefer an interactive and informative classroom!

Prior to real estate, Jennifer was a stay at home mom to her two children. She has a background in Interior Design and home staging. She enjoys home renovating and loves to read by the pool. She is a Yankee transplant from Maine, and has called NC home since 2013.

Kristy Hardy:

Kristy Hardy is originally from the Greensboro, NC area where she enjoyed a career as a Corporate Compliance Officer, and High School ESL teacher. She spent many summers at Wrightsville Beach with her family. She started the real estate journey and relocated in 2014, currently residing in Hampstead.

She is passionate about helping others, and want students to know she will be by their side every step of the way. My professional involvement includes; Construction Management Courses at Cape Fear Community College,  Membership in the Wilmington Cape Fear Home Builders Association, Member of the Sales and Marketing Committee of the WCFHBA, and a 2018 Graduate of the Cape Fear Realtors Association Leadership Academy.

Robert Perdue has been a real estate broker in North Carolina since 2018, previously he was a real estate agent in Connecticut for 10 years dealing in commercial residential properties. Robert had been a public-school teacher for over 12 years teaching mathematics, business, and social studies. He currently teaches accounting and mathematics at Cape Fear Community College. If you feel that you will have problems with the mathematics section of real estate, then Robert is the instructor for you! Robert is affiliated with Coldwell Banker Sea Coast Advantage at the Southport Office. When not working he likes to play golf and spend time at the beach.

Sam Hassell

To become a great real estate agent takes time… but you need to get off to a fast start!  It is my job to help you lay the foundation to hit the ground running!  As a previous Broker in Charge for a large organization, I found that there is a definite need to teach the basic foundation of the real estate world.  My goal is to take my experiences as both a corporate manager, real estate salesman and BIC and guide prospective agents through the minefield of real estate licensing.  We can have a few laughs along the way, and keep our goals ahead of us!  I want to help you get started, and make this the best career of your life!  I look forward to meeting all of you in our next class!