Gary Keller
Gary Keller, founder of the 35-year-old Keller Williams franchise, rose two rankings from last year to claim the top spot on the 2018 Swanepoel Power 200 (SP200), the fifth annual list of top real estate industry leaders and executives released today by consulting firm T3 Sixty, led by real estate industry veteran Stefan Swanepoel. In an advance copy of the list announcement obtained by Inman News, T3 Sixty cited an internal analysis showing that KW had grown to become the largest residential real estate franchise by sales volume in addition to its unparalleled agent count of 154,675 sales associates, pushing the leader of the real estate franchisor to the no. 1 slot.
Spencer Rascoff
Keller stole the no. 1 ranking from Zillow CEO Spencer Rascoff, who in 2017 was honored at the top of the list and this year still claimed second place, thanks to his company’s record-breaking $281.8 million in revenue in Q3 2017, up 25 percent year-over-year, and collection of popular consumer-facing property websites — the most heavily trafficked of its competitors by a long shot with more than 175 million average monthly unique users.
Ron Peltier
Ron Peltier, CEO of HomeServices of America, which made the biggest brokerage acquisition of 2017 when it acquired Long & Foster in September, ranked third on the list. With the acquisition boosting annualized sales to $123.6 billion, the Berkshire Hathaway company is now the only real estate brokerage to exceed a hundred billion in annual sales volume in 2017 aside from the market leader, Realogy’s NRT. No stranger to the list, Re/Max’s Dave Liniger snagged the no. 4 spot, followed by Realogy’s new CEO Ryan Schneider.
Amy Bohutinsky
The highest ranking woman on the list this year was once again Zillow COO Amy Bohutinsky, who ranked 11th and oversees Zillow Group’s people organization (HR, recruiting and learning & development), as well as marketing, communications and consumer care.
She’s followed by Helen Hanna Casey (who ranked 12th as a team with Hoddy Hanna), Hanna Holdings; Windermere’s Jill Jacobi Wood (who ranked 16th on a team with OB Jacobi and Geoff Wood); Dottie Herman, Douglas Elliman (no. 19); and Sherry Chris of Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate (no. 23).
From left to right: Helen Hanna Casey (who ranked 12th as a team with Hoddy Hanna), Hanna Holdings; Windermere’s Jill Jacobi Wood (who ranked 16th on a team with OB Jacobi and Geoff Wood); Dottie Herman, Douglas Elliman (no. 19); and Sherry Chris of Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate (no. 23).
Glenn Kelman
Also of note is Redfin CEO Glenn Kelman‘s 20-spot leap to the no. 9 ranking, due to his Seattle-based, tech-centric brokerage’s successful IPO in July, and Compass leaders Robert Reffkin and Rob Lehman’s rise to no. 27 after raising $550 million in 2017 to achieve a valuation of $2.2 billion. All eyes are on the red-hot New York-based brokerage and its aggressive plans to expand to 20 markets by 2020.
Robert Reffkin
Several industry veterans who were at the top of last year’s list retired from the industry in 2017 (and therefore the SP200), including Realogy Holdings’ Richard Smith (succeeded by Schneider); Dale Stinton, former CEO of the National Association of Realtors (succeeded by Bob Goldberg); former Realogy Franchise Group CEO Alex Perriello (succeeded by by John Peyton); and Bob Moline, formerly president of HomeServices of America.
The SP200, launched in 2014, is overseen by T3 Sixty, a 20-year-old consultancy that over 400 hours analyzes and researches 3,000 CEOs and executives in consideration for the list based on a variety of factors, including their influence, decision-making power, tenure, growth and more. The 2018 rankings are comprised of 274 leaders across eight categories: Corporate Executives (the main list of 200 people), Power Brokers, Women Leaders, Technology Executives, Executives, Organized Real Estate Leaders, Emerging Leaders, Trendsetters and Social Media Influencers.
Other CEOs were recognized for their “new business models,” according to T3 Sixty, including the parent company of virtual brokerage eXp Realty — eXp World Holdings’ — Glenn Sanford (no. 88); United Real Estate’s Dan Duffy (no. 102); and NextHome’s James Dwiggins (no. 105).
Brad Inman
Inman publisher Brad Inman ranked 33rd this year. This year Inman decided not to publish its annual Influencers list of “industry professionals who shape, change and influence the industry.”
“I am humbled to be included on the SP200,” Brad Inman said of the honor. “We stopped our Influencer List because I came to believe the power of this industry comes from tens of thousands of practitioners, not a few elites at the top.”
He told the Inman community: “I met thousands of my readers this year traveling the land and I realized there are just too many of you doing amazing things.”