The Swanepoel Power 200 ranks the most powerful leaders in the residential real estate brokerage industry as 2024 kicks off. Criteria used to rank leaders include the scope and power of leaders’ positions, the financial resources they have at their disposal, whether they have equity stake in their company, their trajectory and much more. For a detailed description of the careful methodology T3 Sixty used to determine the rankings, please see the methodology here.
The SP 200 reflects the relative power of leaders in the industry and is not a company ranking. Size and sales volume listed in bios provide framing and, while used to determine ranking, were just part of the data considered. Note that the numbers used in many of the bios reflect full-year 2022 data, as those are the only available across the board for all companies. Most companies have not completed their 2023 financials. When they do this spring, T3 Sixty will publish its annual ranking of the industry’s largest brokerages, brands and enterprises.
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As president and CEO of Douglas Elliman Realty, Durkin oversees the nation’s fifth largest brokerage, which has nearly 7,000 agents who do approximately $42 billion in annual sales. The company has approximately 120 offices in 10 states. In 2023, Douglas Elliman and UK-headquartered Knight Frank affiliated with The Isles Group to enter the Bahamian luxury market, extending its international presence. Durkin joined Douglas Elliman as COO from the Corcoran Group in 2016.
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UPDATE: A day before launching the 2024 SP 200, Kasper resigned her position as 2024 NAR president. A broker from Idaho who has been on NAR’s board of directors since 2016, she assumed her position early in August 2023, when her predecessor Kenny Parcell resigned. The turnover among NAR leaderships continues a trend of turmoil at the top of the association, which saw its CEO resign in late 2023, has grappled with allegations of sexual misconduct, and continues its legal battles related to several high-profile compensation lawsuits. To learn more about NAR and its future, get complimentary access to the leading chapter of the 2024 Swanepoel Trends Report, “Why NAR Must Fundamentally Change or Fail.”
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Freedman is in her 10th year as CEO at Brown Harris Stevens, the country’s 20th largest brokerage with more than 2,700 agents doing over $10.4 billion in annual sales. BHS, which celebrated 150 years in business in 2023, operates as the brokerage wing under parent company Terra Holdings. Freedman, who previously practiced law, is an active member of the Real Estate Board of New York Board of Governors.
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Lane took over the top spot at Anywhere Real Estate’s company-owned offices affiliated with its Coldwell Banker brand in March 2023. As president and CEO, she oversees more than 52,000 agents in over 700 offices in more than 50 U.S. markets. Before joining Coldwell Banker, Lane was a president at Sotheby’s International Realty and various Compass regions. The Harvard Business School grad also has experience in marketing, communications, and fashion.
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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.
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Scavone leads Weichert Realtors, which operates the nation’s 11th largest brokerage and its eighth largest franchise brand. He took the helm of the brokerage side of the business in July 2022 after leading the franchise side as president since 2016. The company is the US’s ninth largest enterprise, with approximately 14,400 agents at franchised and company-owned offices who do over $41 billion in annual sales.
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Ochsner owns Denver-based brokerage Re/Max Alliance, which has nearly 800 agents who do approximately $4.5 billion in annual sales. He is a second-generation Realtor who has also served as a director of the Colorado Association of Realtors and has been on the board of the Denver Metro Association of Realtors and REColorado (Denver’s MLS), as well as the advisory boards of Realtor.com, Zillow, and Trulia.
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As president of Re/Max Canada since 2021, Alexander helms the country’s largest real estate franchise brand. He oversees operations in all Canadian provinces but Quebec, which remains independent, although he works closely with their leaders to build comprehensive brand strategy across Canada. Alexander, who began his career as a Re/Max sales associate in 2010, is the grandson of Frank J. Polzler who co-founded the first Re/Max region in Atlantic Canada in 1980.
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Webber oversees Majestic Realty Collective, a brokerage company built of several Sotheby’s International Realty brokerages. LIV Sotheby’s International Realty is the collective’s largest firm – in total, the firm has 57 offices in five western states. Combined, the companies rank as the nation’s 15th largest brokerage with approximately 1,200 agents who do nearly $14–billion in annual sales. Webber has over four decades of real estate experience including time as a senior vice president at Anywhere Real Estate.
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Umansky has grown the luxury firm he co-founded in 2011, The Agency, into one of the nation’s largest. The Los Angeles-based brokerage has over 850 agents doing nearly $9 billion in sales. In 2023, the company expanded to The Hamptons, Texas, and North Carolina. The company has a robust franchise wing and has grown internationally with a presence in over 10 countries. A real estate celebrity who rose to consumer fame who appeared on the Million Dollar Listing TV franchise and is currently featured on Netflix’s Buying Beverly Hills, Umansky also appeared on Dancing With the Stars in 2023.
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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.
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Cowen leads the nation’s third largest MLS in Stellar MLS, which serves over 80,500 subscribers in Florida and Puerto Rico. In 2023, Stellar developed a data share agreement with Alabama’s Gulf Coast MLS and Georgia’s First MLS. She is a current director and twice past president of the Council of MLS (CMLS) and is dean of the CMLX certification program.
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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.
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Crawford is CEO of First Multiple Listing Service (FMLS), the nation’s fourth largest MLS with over 57,000 subscribers. A proponent of MLS collaboration, he spearheaded data sharing with Florida’s Stellar MLS, Alabama’s Gulf Coast MLS and Miami Association of Realtors in 2023. Crawford began his real estate career in 2001 at the company now known as CoreLogic. He joined broker-owned FMLS in 2019 from the Real Estate Standards Organization.
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Brothers Dan and Stuart lead Michigan’s largest real estate company. Dan manages Real Estate One’s brokerage services, while Stuart helms financial services. They are the third generation to lead the company founded by their grandfather in 1929. REO is a top-40 national brokerage with approximately 1,900 agents doing $6.1 billion in annual sales. Three fourth generation Elseas currently work at the firm as well.
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President of Realty One Group since 2017, Tracey focuses on growing the franchise brand both in the U.S. and internationally. In 2023, the firm added five new countries to its roster. It is the nation’s 21st largest brokerage and franchise brand with more than 4,800 agents doing over $10 billion in annual sales. Tracey began his real estate career at Re/Max and presided over the franchise from 2004 to 2015.
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Baird runs Baird & Warner, which has over 2,300 agents who do over $6 billion in annual sales in Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, and (as of 2022) Florida. His great-great-grandfather, Lyman Baird, founded the Chicagoland brokerage in 1855, which makes the company one of the nation’s two oldest brokerages. In 2023, the firm incorporated ChatGPT into its CRM. The company also placed in the top 10 of the Chicago Tribune’s Top Workplaces for the tenth time in 2023.
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As head of Century 21 Canada, one of the franchise’s most successful regions globally, Charlwood oversees nearly 400 offices across Canada. He succeeds his father, who launched the firm in 1976, in that position. He is also a director at Century 21 Canada-owner Charlwood Pacific Group, which includes a travel agency and a property management group.
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Pareja, who became chief strategy officer in November 2022, leads the development and refinement of eXp Realty’s agent value proposition and its competitive positioning in the market. Valdes, who joined eXp in 2020, became chief growth officer August 2022 to oversee the company’s growth internationally and in the commercial space.
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Kinney leads the Miami Association of Realtors, the nation’s largest local Realtor association with over 55,000 members and operator of the US’s seventh largest MLS. In 2023, she helped coordinate a three-way data share with Alabama’s Gulf Coast MLS and Florida’s Stellar MLS. It also partnered with BeachesMLS in South Florida to integrate with MLS-owned portal Nestfully.
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