Sotheby’s International Realty’s largest global affiliate, William Pitt and Julia B. Fee Sotheby’s International Realty, based in Stamford, Connecticut, said it was striving to give itself a “competitive edge” with agents, buyers and sellers by creating a new Chief Innovation Officer position this week.
The firm, which has over 1,000 sales associates in 26 brokerages across Connecticut, Massachusetts, Westchester County and New York, has promoted Lance Pendleton, its current VP of sales development and education, to the position.
His new role will include looking at how the company manages it communications, at options for bricks-and-mortar spaces and making decisions on the technological tools the company uses.
Pendleton first joined the company in 2015 as director of education and training; his background is in corporate training with Fortune 500 companies including Apple, and he will continue to hold a training and education role.
He recently helped the firm launch its own centralized CRM known as Client Connect, using Contactually to manage client relationships. Pendleton has also introduced a new online training platform giving agents of all levels access to more than 100 courses.
“The Chief Innovation Officer’s core responsibility is to ensure we continue to stay on the cutting edge in an industry that is evolving faster than ever. Developing superior solutions like Client Connect and partnering with game-changing companies like Contactually allows us to do just that,” said Paul Breunich, President and CEO of William Pitt and Julia B. Fee Sotheby’s International Realty.