At the same time that Compass on Thursday announced its latest earnings numbers, the brokerage also revealed an executive shakeup that will see its chief financial officer (CFO) leave the company and its chief product officer (CPO) rise in the ranks.
Kristen Ankerbrandt
CFO Kristen Ankerbrandt has announced that she is leaving the company. A statement notes that Ankerbrandt joined Compass in 2018 and “successfully steered the business through a time of rapid growth,” as well as its initial public offering last spring. Ankerbrandt plans to stay at Compass until September to help with the transition as the brokerage searches for new candidates for the job.
During an earnings call with investors Thursday afternoon, Ankerbrandt revealed she plans to start her own investment fund after leaving Compass.
Compass founder and CEO Robert Reffkin praised Ankerbrandt Thursday, noting in a statement that she “played a key role in driving the rapid growth and financial strength of our business.”
“She leaves us having established a culture of entrepreneurship and discipline across the entire organization,” Reffkin added.
The second part of the news is that Greg Hart is getting a promotion. Hart joined Compass in 2020 to serve as chief product officer, but will now step into the role of chief operating officer. Before joining Compass, Hart spent decades working at online retail giant Amazon.
The executive shuffle was announced the same day Compass reported its earnings for the first quarter of 2022. During that period, the company managed to increase revenue by 25 percent year-over-year. Compass also lost $188 million during the quarter, though that loss was down compared to the same period one year earlier.
The news about Hart and Ankerbrandt also comes at a time of rapid growth for Compass, with among other things the company recently surpassing Realogy Anywhere in the prestigious Mega 1000 rankings for sales volume. Compass has also recently continued its long-standing practice of buying other companies, for example by picking up Consumer’s Title Company of California earlier this month.
In Thursday’s statement about the executive moves, Reffkin was optimistic about the future and praised Hart, who will be staying with the company.
“Greg is an extraordinary leader,” Reffkin said, “who, over the past two years, has applied his unique experience and passion for technology to the cause of replacing the real estate industry’s complex, paper-driven, workflow with a seamless, all-digital, end-to-end platform.”
Update: This post was updated after publication with information Ankerbrandt shared during an investor call Thursday.
