Realtor.com operator Move Inc. has promoted from within to beef up its industry relations team in the wake of the abrupt departures of two key executives — Errol Samuelson and Curt Beardsley — to Zillow in March.
Luke Glass, who has served as general manager of Move’s listing syndication platform ListHub since 2010, will direct Move’s industry relations efforts and support its industry strategy as executive vice president of industry platforms.
Glass joined Move in 2010 when it acquired ListHub’s parent company Threewide Corp., where he had served as president since 2002, according to his LinkedIn profile.
Luke Glass
Michael Kane, who has served as Move’s chief of staff since 2009 and the general manager of Move’s TigerLead Solutions business since June, will now serve as senior vice president of Move’s software-as-a-service businesses. Those businesses include the lead generation system TigerLead, customer relationship management platform Top Producer, lead management platform FiveStreet, and agent marketing service Market Snapshot.
Taking over as general manager of ListHub is Celeste Starchild, who has served as the company’s vice president of sales and marketing since 2007.
“Luke, Michael and Celeste have grown and improved Move’s business services with strong leadership, integrity, expertise and passion so we are delighted they will continue to lead and build our relationships with our partners and customers,” said Steve Berkowitz, Move’s CEO, in a statement.
More management changes at Move could be in the works. Before taking a new job as Zillow’s chief industry development officer, Samuelson served as president of realtor.com. That position remains vacant.
Move’s chief product officer, Scott Boecker, left the firm in February. David Roth, vice president of marketing, will be leaving Move this summer, Move spokeswoman Christie Wilfley told Inman News.
Samuelson also headed up Move’s industry relations team. Although Beardsley had been promoted to fill Samuelson’s role as head of industry relations, Beardsley derailed that plan by following Samuelson to Zillow, where he serves as vice president of industry development.
Filings in a lawsuit Move and the National Association of Realtors filed in an attempt to prevent Samuelson from working for Zillow have fueled speculation about the future of ListHub. In his resignation email to Berkowitz, Beardsley expressed concerns about the speed at which he would be expected to execute a plan to “save ListHub.”
ListHub’s former vice president of industry relations, John Whitney, joined Trulia in February.
But Berkowitz agreed last week that it would be “batshit crazy” for Move to shut down ListHub, which feeds Zillow approximately half of its listings, despite the short-term damage such a move might inflict on realtor.com competitors. Move says it will enhance the way ListHub accesses, stores and distributes data.
