1
Barton has steadied the Zillow Group ship over the last two years, as it has adapted its end-to-end transaction vision from iBuying to a more asset-light approach. To effect this transition in 2023, he led the rollout of ShowingTime+, a suite of sophisticated listing tools and services for agents, and acquired one of the industry’s most popular technologies for real estate teams in Follow Up Boss. The company posted a net loss of $85 million in 2023 through the third quarter, but has solidified its position and direction, and is poised to leverage its portal dominance in the years ahead.
2
In 2023, Florance stepped on the gas in his relatively recent entrance into the residential real estate space with a revamped Homes.com. CoStar Group, which he founded in 1987 and has run since as CEO, has aggressively grown and developed Homes.com, and increased its traffic significantly since acquiring the portal in 2021. As he has demonstrated in other verticals, notably commercial real estate and rentals, he is hunting dominance in the real estate sales space with a “My Listing, My Lead” strategy. CoStar is rapidly becoming one of the most powerful players in the space and Florance is leading that charge.
3
As Zillow Group president, Daimler leads the firm’s Premier Agent business as well as its mortgage and StreetEasy businesses. In her role, she oversees the divisions that fuel the bulk of Zillow Group’s significant annual revenue. Through the third quarter, Zillow Group’s residential (of which Premier Agent provides the bulk of revenue) and mortgage divisions brought in nearly $1.2 billion in revenue combined. Daimler joined Zillow in 2012 when the company acquired her Buyfolio platform, one of several startups she has co-founded over her career.
4
A multidimensional real estate leader who owns a variety of real estate brokerages, technology and training platforms, Kinney made a huge leap into real estate teams by co-founding Place in 2020. The platform, which provides back-office and other key support to over 100 teams across the U.S., raised $100 million in 2021. He also runs the Built How event series, which hosts live events across the country with real estate leaders highlighting how they achieved their success.
5
As chief operating officer, Wacksman is focused on helping Zillow Group create a seamless customer experience. At the firm since 2009, Wacksman has been overseeing core company operations as COO since 2021. Prior to this role, he served as Zillow president and CMO for Zillow Group. At Microsoft he led Xbox marketing and product management before moving to real estate. Wacksman remains an active advisor to startup and growth companies.
6
Eales succeeded David Doctorow at the helm of Move, which operates realtor.com, in June 2023. Eales, who held a variety of roles at News Corp Australia including as chief marketing officer and chief operating officer of the Australian publishing business, was most recently executive vice president and global head of transformation at News Corp, which acquired Move in 2014. In his work in Australia, he helped REA Group’s realestate.com.au maintain and grow its standing as Australia’s leading real estate portal. Eales faces a fierce battle with Homes.com to hold onto the U.S.’s No. 2 portal position.
7
Samuelson’s role at Zillow Group includes responsibility for the company’s new construction business, media business, its Canadian operations and its business-to-business divisions including dotloop, Bridge Interactive, and ShowingTime. He brings more than 25 years of experience in the technology and real estate sectors, helping inform Zillow’s evolution of its relationship with the real estate industry from customers to partners. Prior to joining Zillow in 2014, he served as president of realtor.com.
8
President and CEO of brokerage tech company Lone Wolf Technologies since 2019, Kelly has significantly expanded the firm’s product portfolio. After the company’s 2020 acquisition by equity firm Stone Point Capital, Kelly oversaw the acquisition of several other technology firms, including those covering digital marketing, CRM, transaction management, business insights and more product areas.
9
Baur is CEO of popular real estate brokerage platform MoxiWorks, which integrates productivity and data tech offerings with CRM, CMA, website builder, recruiting tools and more for brokers and agents. The company is owned by private equity firm Vector Capital with large brokerage companies Windermere Real Estate, Long & Foster and Howard Hanna also as investors. MoxiWorks serves more than 800 brokerage and over 600 MLS clients and has over 400,000 agents using its platform.
10
George and Smith lead the investments in residential real estate software for Constellation Software, which includes Constellation1, SmartZip, Offrs.com, Market Leader, Zurple and Sharper Agent. In 2023, they expanded the portfolio with the acquisition of Black Knight’s Optimal Blue and Empower loan origination system, which it rebranded as Dark Matter. George is a 19-year veteran of Perseus while Smith joined from subsidiary Market Leader, where he spent nearly 12 years.
11
Skousen leads popular real estate tech provider Inside Real Estate, maker of kvCore, an end-to-end platform tool featuring an integrated website, CRM and marketing system used by over 400,000 brokerages, agents and teams. In 2023, the company acquired real estate platform Boomtown and released new software to further automate listing marketing and engagement with homebuyers throughout their homeownership experience.
12
Wheeler leads Opendoor, which has become the nation’s largest iBuying company. She has solidified the company’s position since taking the helm in 2022 by expanding a partnership with Zillow Group and Redfin. In 2023, Wheeler announced Opendoor’s intention to double down on home purchases and plans for a 2024 Super Bowl ad. Wheeler has nearly 30 years’ experience in private equity, having spent more than two decades at TPG Capital.
13
As founder and CEO of digital transaction management platform SkySlope, Smith leads one of the industry’s leading transaction management platform providers, reportedly serving over 650,000 North American real estate professionals. The company has introduced additional services to partners including a transaction coordination service, offer-management tools and forms software.
14
Berkowitz has led Ojo Labs as CEO since co-founding it in 2015. The Austin, Texas-based company owns the popular national real estate portal Movoto and operates a national referral network under the Ojo brand. In 2023, the firm sold its Canadian operations to the Royal Bank of Canada and secured debt financing, which collectively secured $200 million in investment for the company.
15
A long-time leader of popular real estate portal Homes.com, Mele continues to lead the portal under CoStar Group. He is leading that firm’s high-profile leap into the residential sales side of real estate, which includes a significant war chest to support an aggressive marketing strategy, a playbook it has used to achieve portal leadership in other industries. He will have a growing presence in the industry as Homes.com is poised to launch its revamped agent products in 2024.
16
Tager runs the real estate digital marketing company Ylopo, which has become a popular tool for brokerages, teams and agents to grow their businesses and brands. In 2023, the company launched RAIYA Voice, a new outbound AI tool to call and convert leads into appointments, which integrates with its text communication tool popular with brokerages, teams and agents looking to grow their businesses and brands. Tager previously founded and ran lead generation service TigerLead Solutions, which Move Inc. bought in 2012.
17
As head of data and analytics for Black Knight, Graboske oversees the technology development for real estate professionals, the mortgage industry and secondary markets, including the company’s popular MLS software Paragon used by over 200 MLSs across the US. In 2023, Black Knight added computer vision technology to Paragon and launched a mobile app to expedite valuation and loan approval.
18
Wurzer runs FBS, which offers the popular MLS software Flexmls Platform in its suite of products (including Launch Dashboard, FlōPlan System, and Spark API). Flexmls is used by over 150 MLSs and 200,000 agents. In addition, he serves on the board of directors of the Real Estate Standards Organization.
19
As executive vice president of enterprise strategy at CoreLogic, Khatod leads the firm’s efforts to improve its real estate technology. The company’s over 4.5 billion records combine public and proprietary data spanning more than 50 years. Khatod joined CoreLogic in California in 2015, moving from roles in risk and regulatory solutions in New York.
20
Black leads Knock, which launched in 2015 with a twist on the iBuying business model in which the company made all-cash offers on behalf of sellers’ next homes. In 2021, it unveiled a cash-backed offer service for buyers. The company raised $220 million in 2022 but has been relatively quiet as this alternative finance category and its offerings look to gain traction with the changing market.
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