Shopify chief technology officer (CTO) Allan Leinwand will join Compass’ board of directors, the fast-growing brokerage announced Monday.
Allan Leinwand
Leinwand is “one of the most widely-respected leaders in technology” and is someone with “decades of engineering experience,” Compass said in a statement. Leinwand currently oversees technology for Shopify — a role he will keep even after joining Compass’ board — and also has leadership experience at companies including Slack, Zynga and Cisco Systems, among others.
Leinwand “is widely recognized as an engineering visionary who has applied his experience and passion for technology to reducing the barriers entrepreneurs face as they grow their businesses,” Compass founder and CEO Robert Reffkin said in the statement.
Robert Reffkin
“One of our core principles at Compass is to ‘maximize your strengths’ and Allan’s strong engineering leadership background will ensure we continue to focus on investing in technology that empowers Compass agents with more time and tools so they can provide great experiences to their clients,” Reffkin added.
The statement does not go into detail about what Leinwand will specifically do at Compass, but corporate board members typically serve as advisers and guides for companies, helping shape their direction and ensuring resources are well-spent.
While serving as the CTO of Infrastructure at video game maker Zynga, Leinwand “focused on building one of the largest consumer cloud computing environments used to deliver the company’s social games,” Monday’s statement notes.
Leinwand’s appointment to the Compass board comes amid a period of growth for the brokerage. Long known for growing via acquisitions, Compass most recently snapped up Consumer’s Title Company of California. The move highlighted Compass’ growing push into ancillary services.
Perhaps even more significantly, last month Compass dethroned Realogy in the prestigious 2022 Mega 1000 ranking of real estate brokerages by sales volume. Monday’s statement alluded to such victories, saying that “in less than ten years, Compass has become the largest residential real estate brokerage in the United States.”
Leinwand also praised Compass in the statement, calling the brokerage “an innovator in the real estate space much like Shopify has been for commerce.”
“Both have created platforms that make it easier for entrepreneurs of any kind to start, run, and grow their business,” he added. “The continued commitment from Compass to invest in technology for real estate agents makes this an exciting time to join the board.”
