Engineering Team Leader, Rocket Homes
Spotlighting industry achievers under the age of 40 that are forging new paths and pushing the envelope.
The Future Leaders in Real Estate Award spotlights emerging leaders who have demonstrated exceptional leadership skills and a commitment to pushing the envelope in the real estate industry. For the first time, Inman celebrates the next generation of visionaries who are forging new paths, introducing transformative ideas, and making significant contributions to the evolution of real estate practices.
The 2024 Inman Future Leaders in Real Estate
Agents, Teams, and Brokers
Bianca D’Alessio
Managing Director, Nest Seekers, and Founder of the Masters Division
Frequently ranked among the top brokers in the nation, as well as in her hometown New York, D’Alessio, 31, currently manages a $10 billion real estate portfolio and serves as managing director for Nest Seekers Development Marketing, the brokerage’s branding arm for new home construction. In addition to her appearances on “Selling the Hamptons,” D’Alessio is an author, speaker and advocate for women who frequently hosts workshops in New York on topics such as household management and financial planning.
Ariana Gaffoglio
Founding agent of OFFICIAL, Orange County
With a portfolio of trophy properties across Southern California, such as the $22 million oceanfront home in Dana Point so nice she sold it twice, veteran global adviser Gaffoglio, 36, has applied her knowledge of luxury markets out west to her role as a global adviser at OFFICIAL. With a secondary specialty in Las Vegas, where she’s carved out a desert oasis of seven-figure homes, the 14-year veteran now sits on more than $1 billion in career transactions.
Brandon Coppel
Realtor, RE/MAX ONE
Since leaping from the realm of commercial real estate only a few years ago, Coppel, 28, has made a name across the northwestern climes of Los Angeles, particularly in lush Thousand Oaks, where palatial homes command in excess of $5 million. However, as a native of the area, specifically in picturesque Oak Park, his mission transcends sales. “He is not just in the business of closing deals,” he writes on Linkedin. “He is dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for his neighbors.”
Jenna Rozenblat
Chief Operating Officer, The Real Brokerage
Since settling into her title as COO of The Real Brokerage last summer, Rozenblat, 39, has been integral in scaling the fast-growing brokerage as it navigates upheaval in the industry at large. In 2024 alone, the brokerage announced the acquisition of a North Carolina-based mega-team from eXp Realty, among other notable recruitment efforts, while also signaling settlements in major commission lawsuits that threaten to change the course of the industry.
Lauren Bowen
Chief Operating Officer, Robert Slack
A former healthcare worker with time logged in operating rooms, Bowen, 36, joined Orlando, Florida-based real estate brokerage Robert Slack in 2014 before being named COO last year. As a leader of the brokerage’s Ocala team early in her real estate career, she exceeded expectations and was later called on to oversee all of the company’s leaders. Besides being licensed across the South, she also manages, develops and acquires investment properties.
Quintavius Burdette
Real Estate Associate, RE/MAX Experts
Q, as Burdette is known, is a former football and track star with a Master’s degree in accounting and finance from the University of Mississippi. A current agent at RE/MAX Experts of Germantown, Tennessee, the 30-year-old is no stranger to competition, having been a multi-challenge winner on CBS’s Survivor Season 46. One of 17 children, the Senatobia, Mississippi-born self-starter is also an award-winning RE/MAX agent and Hall of Fame member.
Kathryn Arrand
Sales Agent, Coldwell Banker Schneidmiller Realty
Recognized as Coldwell Banker Schneidmiller Realty's 2014 Rookie of the Year and a Diamond Society, President’s Elite and President’s Premier honoree, Arrand, 37, serves Idaho’s Panhandle and Eastern Washington as half of the Arrand + Arrand Team along with her husband, Cory, at Coldwell Banker Schneidmiller Realty. Her background in sales, customer service, advertising and marketing helps the Idaho native stay ahead in the ever-evolving real estate landscape.
Rachel Scheid
Vice President of Brokerage Services, Designated Managing Broker, @properties Christie’s International Real Estate
As a managing broker, the top priority of Scheid, 33, is providing personalized attention to each of her agents through tools like coaching and superior marketing support. In addition to the 10-year-plus industry vet’s work with @properties Christie’s International Real Estate agents, Scheid is also a member of the Chicago Association of Realtors’ Board of Directors, Foundation Board of Trustees and political action committee. She is also active in Chicagoland Habitat for Humanity and in the past, served as president of the organization’s Young Professionals board.
Christopher Miller
Chief Operating Officer and Co-Founder, Epique Realty
Miller, 36, co-founded Houston-based Epique Realty with Joshua Miller and Janice Delcid in July 2020. The trio has grown the brokerage to more than 2,000 agents across 30 states through an impressive roster of benefits, including free healthcare, low agent fees and access to a proprietary technology platform powered by Eriq, Epique’s artificial intelligence chatbot. The company launched its annual conference, Epique PowerCON, in April.
Kasey Barnes
Realtor, Latter & Blum
Barnes entered the real estate industry after earning a marketing degree from Louisiana State University, and today touts roughly a decade of experience in the Baton Rouge metro. The 38-year-old Latter and Blum agent focuses on strategizing with clients, as well as working with new construction properties. Barnes and her husband are also parents of a toddler and enjoy spending time outdoors.
Kenny Truong
Founder, Fast Real Estate brokered by eXp Realty
Bay Area native Truong, 39, started making his mark on San Francisco real estate more than 10 years ago when he joined the industry as an agent. The Fast Real Estate team leader aims to use the latest technology and marketing to help clients get the best results as quickly as possible. Truong practices what he preaches on his own social media pages where he’s often generating new content to promote the team, which closed more than $590 million in sales volume in 2023.
Dennis Cestra Jr.
President, Pennsylvania, Maryland and West Virginia, Howard Hanna Real Estate Services
As president of Howard Hanna's Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Maryland Regions, and a third-generation member of the Hanna real estate family, Cestra Jr., 36, has driven growth and strategy across multiple divisions. After earning a Master’s degree in real estate from Georgetown University, he oversaw remarkable growth during his tenure as president of the Southeast region, including a 70 percent increase in sales and an expansion into the Charlottesville, Virginia, market.
Gali Sapir
Founding Partner, Perennial Real Estate
Named to Washingtonian Magazine’s elite list of Washington, D.C.’s best agents and with $30 million in volume during her first three years in the industry, Sapir’s expertise, enthusiasm and responsiveness have made her a standout among her peers in the competitive DMV (DC, Maryland, Virginia) marketplace. As a founding partner in Perennial Real Estate, Sapir, 39, prides herself on superior client service, both during and after the sale, and a commitment to streamlined transaction processes.
Tiffany Pantozzi
Founder, Align Real Estate
As the founder of Central Florida’s Align Real Estate, Pantozzi’s marketing expertise has not only earned her awards; it has earned her recognition as one of the region’s most elite luxury professionals. Pantozzi, 39, represented the area’s most famous property (other than Cinderella’s Castle) — the Giffin Court mansion owned by Shaquille O’Neal. Her visionary leadership has been recognized by Forbes, The Wall Street Journal, People, the LA Times, Fox Business and Variety, and she's listed as one of Yahoo Finance’s Top 5 Female Realtors to follow.
Marketing and Sales
Katie LoGatto
Vice President of Marketing, The Corcoran Group
For more than 15 years, LoGatto, 39, has worked with some of New York City’s top real estate firms in developing her marketing chops. Prior to transitioning into full-time marketing roles, LoGatto was a licensed agent herself, which has helped her to better understand agent needs and buyer and seller expectations. She has overseen all aspects of corporate branding and marketing, including conception-to-close on new development projects. Last year, LoGatto was recognized as one of Corcoran’s Inspiring Women of 2023.
Katherine Mechling
Director of Communications, Side
Mechling took a circuitous path to real estate, first earning two degrees, the latter of which was a master's in communication from USC. She previously worked for the California Association of Realtors, before joining Side in 2021 as a content marketing manager. A year later, Side promoted Mechling, 35, to director of communications. The role has put Mechling’s background — which includes freelance journalism — to good use, as her byline still pops up in industry publications as she parses the latest market insights.
Rory Golod
President of Growth and Communications, Compass
Golod, 38, first joined Compass in 2014 as a manager, but quickly began climbing the ranks. He eventually served as chief of staff to CEO Robert Reffkin, a regional president, and a senior vice president. Today, Golod is a full-fledged member of Compass’ top leadership team and holds the title of president of growth and communications. His job has made him one of the most prominent leaders at one of the industry’s most prominent companies.
Adedoyin “A.D.” & Amanda Adedapo
Co-founders, DAPO Group
Real estate power couple Adedoyin “A.D.” and Amanda Adedapo, both 33, have spent the past five years building the DAPO Group, one of Keller Williams’ top-producing teams in the DMV (D.C., Maryland and Virginia) area. The Adedapos specialize in military relocations, luxury sales and residential investment. However, they’re most passionate about helping first-time homebuyers find homes and communities where they’ll thrive for years to come. The duo has received honors from NAR, the Prince George's County Association of Realtors and The Washingtonian for their efforts.
Kyle Kirkpatrick
Vice President of Business Communications and Public Affairs, Anywhere Real Estate
A relative newcomer to Anywhere, Kirkpatrick, 36, has been with the real estate franchiser since the beginning of 2022. Prior to that, he gained extensive experience at PR firms Antenna and Beckerman, where he honed skills in messaging, strategy, crisis communications and digital/social media across real estate and political spheres. In 2023, Kirkpatrick was recognized by Business Management Review among its Top 10 Business Communications Leaders.
Madeline Mordarski
Chief Marketing Officer, The Keyes Company
Following a seven-year tenure in marketing and operations roles at Compass, Mordarski, 33, recently joined The Florida-based Keyes Company to oversee the firm’s marketing efforts and work with leadership on strategic initiatives. Through her experience gained at Compass, and prior to that, the founding of her own successful boutique consultancy, Mordarski has learned how to effectively implement initiatives for revenue growth, new product launches and more, which she will execute at The Keyes Company.
Shannon McMahon
National Manager, Homebuilder Partnerships, Opendoor
McMahon’s rise at Opendoor has been rapid. She joined the company back in 2018 in a recruiting role, but after just a year was promoted to a management position working with homebuilder partnerships. But McMahon, 30, didn’t stop there. Instead, the next several years saw her win three additional promotions, and today she serves as Opendoor’s national manager of partnerships. Her roles, past and present, have turned McMahon into a public advocate for Opendoor and means she interfaces directly with major homebuilders such as Lennar.
Adam Rosenbloom
Account Executive, LocalizeOS
Rosenbloom, 32, is a consummate software sales professional who has worked his way into becoming a key revenue contributor to one of real estate’s most innovative AI-backed technology companies. Responsive to trends and always customer-first, Rosenbloom established himself in the space with a four-year run at Zillow during the critical Pandemic-era sales market. He attended the University of Tampa and resides in New York City.
Gina Rautenberg
Marketing Consultant, Redtail Creative
Exceptionally experienced on both the technology and brokerage fronts and buoyed by palpable creative energy, Rautenberg, 38, is a change-maker in the space. She has applied her insights to Edina Realty, Engel & Völkers, Spherebuilder, Realtor.com, NAR and Lone Wolf Technologies. About Rautenberg, her nominator said, “Her ability to communicate with authenticity and expertise makes her a respected speaker and trusted marketing guide.”
Olivia Mariani
Chief Marketing Officer, Curbio
Over her nearly four years with the company, CMO Mariani, 33, has played a key role in guiding Curbio’s marketing efforts throughout its meteoric rise as the company that’s defining the pre-sale home renovation market. Curbio has roughly doubled in size since its founding in 2018 and has plans to continue growing, recently revamping its marketing team under Mariani.
Ashley Terrell-Kayiran
Chief Revenue Officer, Milestones
With more than a decade of experience in sales and commercial leadership, Terrell-Kayiran, 36, brings award-winning achievement to her role as Chief Revenue Officer at Milestone, a SaaS solution provider that combines home management with relationship building to facilitate lasting collaboration between homeowners and industry experts. Terrell-Kayiran’s expertise in problem-solving, communication and interpersonal connection has made her an influencer across real estate, media and proptech.
Laura Corrigan
Senior Vice President of Marketing & Communications at The Agency
Already an Inman Marketing All-Star for 2024, Corrigan, 33, is charged with pushing new ideas forward and sharing the successes of one of the industry’s fastest-moving luxury brokerages, of which she’s been a part of more than six years. A career public relations professional with a host of reasons to be recognized, Corrigan has a BA in English and International Studies from Saint Mary’s College.
Katelyn Castellano
Senior Vice President of Marketing, Engel & Völkers Americas
Castellano, 39, has been hard at work elevating the Engel & Völkers brand since joining the firm in late 2016. Through new partnerships, strategies, content development and platforms, Castellano has helped drive the luxury brokerage forward. Castellano was instrumental in curating the firm’s brand refinement, which was unveiled last spring, and required a tactful balance of legacy with innovation for the digital age. After the refinement’s big reveal, brand surveys showed that 90 percent of the Engel & Völkers network was satisfied with the results.
Technology and Data
Miah Yoo
Director of Operations, The Real Estate Board of New York
Yoo, 34, joined REBNY in May 2020 after nearly eight years and multiple roles at global real estate firm Related Companies. Earlier this year, she was instrumental in transitioning REBNY’s Residential Listing Service (RLS) to the Real Estate Standards Organization (RESO) Web API. The update provided REBNY’s 15,000 members with a modern, more efficient way of transferring data between the RLS, vendors, and agent and broker websites.
Matthew Rippin
Rippin, 32, started his tech career early, balancing three systems analyst positions while finishing his bachelor's degree at Central Michigan University. After graduating in 2014, Rippin was a General Motors software developer for three years before moving to Rocket Homes. During his tenure with Rocket Homes, Rippin has revolutionized the company’s mobile apps with features that stay on the cutting edge, the latest of which includes a seamless home search experience on Apple’s Vision Pro 3D Camera. His work has earned Rocket Homes several technological awards.
Anna Marie Castiglioni
SVP, Head of Strategy and Operations, Realtor.com
Castiglioni, 35, has spent the past 16 years guiding business strategies of some of the globe’s biggest finance and travel brands, including Expedia, JP Morgan Chase & Co., and Citi. In 2021, Castiglioni brought her talents to real estate as Realtor.com's head of strategy, business management and transformation. By 2022, the New York University graduate was promoted to head of strategy and business operations, where she has led the portal’s overall business and operations strategy.
Jake Hamilton
Senior Vice President of Strategy, Lone Wolf Technologies
Reaching the role of Chief of Staff three years removed from his twenties helped Lone Wolf Technologies see what kind of innovator it had hired in Hamilton, 32. Evolving quickly in a senior vice president role, Hamilton is growth-minded and people-first, characteristics honed in his years at the renowned business and technology consulting firm Credera. Lone Wolf is a leader in software for all aspects of real estate, and Hamilton is a pivotal reason for it.
Josiah Ubben
Vice President Design and Product, PLACE
Josiah Ubben is something of a renaissance man. He plays music. He snowboards. He’s bilingual. But real estate pros most likely know him as the vice president of product and head of design at PLACE — a role he has held for the last four years. The job means Ubben, 33, oversees a team of more than 20 people who focus on an array of tasks including web design, branding and product design. And while that sounds like a full plate for anyone, Ubben is also a licensed agent with Keller Williams Western Realty.
Felix Tom
Senior Data Engineer, Attom
The real estate industry can put mountains of property data at nearly anyone’s fingertips, but not just anyone can wield it. That’s where data engineers like the 39-year-old Felix Tom come in. Beyond the many ways in which data engineers can make life easier for company clients, Tom’s leadership has also proved crucial for Attom in a number of strategic initiatives. Tom was instrumental in migrating the company’s real estate data infrastructure to the cloud, a major project that is expected to pay long-term dividends for the company’s growth. Armed with expertise in AI tools and data science, Tom’s contributions have extended to streamlining Attom’s data-normalization processes, as well as refining its proprietary loan model.
Mansoor Bahramand
Chief Technology Officer, Revive
Bahramand, 35, likes to be known as a builder: Software. New companies. Relationships. They all require building, maintenance and ongoing attention. As CTO at Revive, Bahramand leads the engineering department, helping forge new features, interfaces and experiences to empower people to see the best in their homes. He’s also the co-founder of startup studio Branch, where he thrives in helping people do the same thing he does: build.
Nikki Miller,
Vice President of Lever by Movoto, Agent Programs, OJO
Miller, 32, a broker since 2017, joined OJO in March after the proptech firm acquired The LEAD Syndicate, an agent platform Miller founded in 2020. Miller launched her career in real estate while in her twenties and less than two years later became founder and CEO of a Keller Williams team that she still leads today. Miller is also the co-host of The ONE Thing Podcast, which was co-founded by Gary Keller, who co-founded the platform.
Mortgage and Finance
James Grout
Senior Vice President of Finance, Offerpad
For iBuyers like Offerpad, finance is a big deal. Grout, 35, came to Offerpad in 2018 as director of financial planning and analysis and was named SVP of finance the following year, overseeing financial planning and analysis, strategy, treasury, capital markets and investor relations. Before Offerpad, Grout managed capital affordability for Intel's global capital equipment supply chain. In between earning a bachelor's degree in business administration from the University of Arizona and an MBA from Cornell University, he began his career in the mortgage industry with Provident Funding Associates.
Director of Revenue, LodeStar Software Solutions
Known to many in the mortgage industry as host of the weekly podcast "Lending Leaders," Gardner, 30, joined LodeStar in 2020 after working in hospitality for more than a decade. While earning a bachelor's degree in business administration from the University of Valley Forge, Gardner worked her way up from crewmember to manager at McDonald's. She also holds a BBA from the University of Massachusetts and is certified by the IRS to provide Volunteer Income Tax Assistance and Tax Counseling for the Elderly (VITA/TCE).
Morgan Salama
Vice President of Growth and Strategic Partnerships, Anywhere Integrated Services
Since joining Anywhere in 2017 as a senior strategy manager, Salama, 30, has held several positions of increasing responsibility. In her current role, which she's held since 2022, Salama is responsible for the expansion of Anywhere’s title and mortgage joint ventures. After earning a BA in government from Cornell University, Salama worked in management consulting and corporate venture capital. Her case studies on game theory and disruption have been taught at Stanford’s Graduate School of Business.
Tomer Dorfan
Vice President of Revenue, Endpoint
A cum laude graduate of the University of Michigan Law School with a concentration in tax law, Dorfan, 35, worked as a corporate attorney in New York and Cambridge, Massachusetts before co-founding FeatherDocs, a venture-backed legal technology company where he served as CEO. After leading Spruce's revenue organization until it was acquired by Zillow, Dorfan joined Endpoint in 2023, where he leads the company's go-to-market strategy for serving proptech companies, single-family rental (SFR) investors, real estate agents, and their clients.
Patrick Burns
Vice President of Product Management, Spruce; Zillow
A native of Scotland, Burns, 34, came to the U.S. to attend Yale after graduating from the University of Oxford with a bachelor's degree in physics. After completing a master of arts in statistics and machine learning at Yale, Burns landed in New York City's fintech scene as a behavioral data analyst and product manager at Betterment. He then founded and served as CEO of Spruce, a tech-enabled title and closing company acquired by Zillow last year.
Advocate for Change
Caitlin McCrory
Vice President and Head of Industry Relations, Anywhere Real Estate
In her roles as vice president and head of Industry Relations at Anywhere, McCrory, 34, sits at the helm of the company’s industry, advocacy and policy efforts. Since the beginning of her communications and PR career, McCrory has been involved in the real estate industry. She got her start at the Greater Milwaukee Association of Realtors and went on to accept roles at the National Association of Realtors and Redfin, where she was also head of industry relations before joining Anywhere. As a self-professed “real estate data nerd,” according to her LinkedIn profile, McCrory says she hopes to move the industry forward in the consumer’s best interest.
Jen Butler
Vice President of Government and Community Relations, Zillow
For the past eight years, Butler, 38, has led Zillow’s research, education and advocacy efforts, which span from the local to the federal level. Butler’s work has encompassed eight roles at the company, where she’s steadily built a team of regional managers who work with agencies, policymakers, academics and housing advocates tackling important issues such as fair housing, housing affordability and homelessness. Butler is a George Washington University graduate and a 2017 Harvard Business School Young American Leaders Program cohort member.
Lily Liu
Co-founder and CEO, Piñata
Liu, 38, co-founded Piñata, a national rent and rewards financial program, in 2019 with the aim of making the renting experience more fun and beneficial for renters, property managers and landlords through rewards and credit boosts. A startup adviser for more than a decade, in 2009 Liu created a civic engagement platform, PublicStuff, that was born after several years as an analyst for the city governments of Long Beach and New York. PublicStuff was acquired by Accela and Berkshire Partners in 2015.
Mark Petrov
COO/CFO, Key Living Corporation
Petrov, 33, joined Toronto-based Key, a co-ownership startup, in January 2020 and handles growth, finance, operations and compliance for the company. Previously, he was the founder and CEO of fintech firm Xtreme Blockchain Labs, which was acquired by Kognitiv in 2019. After that deal, Petrov became Kognitiv’s head of capital markets, managing large domestic and international teams and raising venture capital. He says he is a “firm believer in the digitization of Capital Markets and the democratization of investing.”
Odeta Kushi
Deputy Chief Economist, First American
Kushi, 32, has been an economist at First American, where she landed straight out of graduate school, for nearly nine years. Kushi researches demographic trends impacting the real estate and mortgage markets and her economic analyses and forecasts make her a go-to source for top business media outlets. She has been a member of First American’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Council since 2020.
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