Russ Cofano has resigned from his position as president and general counsel at eXp World Holdings, operator of real estate brokerage eXp Realty.
Russ Cofano
Cofano, an industry veteran of more than 25 years, joined eXp in June 2016 as chief strategy officer and general counsel. In September 2016 he was promoted to the position of president.
The company announced his departure on Friday, Inman learned.
“I was brought into eXp to take it from ‘startup to enterprise’ and was given the opportunity during this time to add important structure and process and to assemble an all-star management team,” Cofano said in a written statement. “I wish Glenn [Sanford, eXp founder] and team continued great success as they explore new directions into the future.”
His statement did not explain why he chose to leave the company.
However, eXp spokesman Mitch Robinson said, “Glenn has elected to move the company toward a more holocratic organizational structure tied to eXp’s agent-owned business model. In light of this, Russ has elected to move on to other opportunities.”
In a statement, Sanford said, “Russ moved eXp forward in ways I could not have even anticipated, bringing important processes and key staff aboard as we manage unprecedented growth today and into the future. Our entire team and our agents thank Russ for his efforts and wish him well in his next adventure.”
eXp World Holdings, Inc. is the holding company for eXp Realty, which promises 24/7 access to collaborative tools and training for real estate brokers and agents through its 3-D, fully-immersive, cloud office environment. It also offers a revenue sharing program that pays agents a percentage of gross commission income earned by agents who they attract into the company.
The company says it has nearly tripled its agent count over the last year to around 4,000. Instead of providing physical offices, eXp Realty uses its proprietary “cloud office environment” to furnish agents with online business tools, training and interaction with coworkers.
EXp’s parent company is traded on a stock exchange for early-stage companies.
As a publicly-traded company, eXp World Holdings, Inc. also offers its agents company stock for production and contributions to overall company growth.
Recently, the company announced a slew of executive management hires including former vice president of trade marketing at Zillow, Mitch Robinson.
Earlier this year, the company announced that two board members were leaving the board of directors, Jason Gesing and Gene Frederick, according to information on the company’s website. Their seats will be filled by two real estate agents who are part of the company’s network.
Previously, Cofano was senior vice president of industry relations for realtor.com operator Move Inc. from June, 2014 to September 2015.
Prior to his position at Move, Cofano served as CEO of the Missouri Association of Realtors. He has also advised an array of Realtor associations and MLSs, been CEO of a CRM tech company and was the vice president and general counsel for one of the largest real estate brokerage companies in the country, John L. Scott Real Estate.