Inman

Realogy hires former GMAC exec

Realogy Corp. has hired former GMAC Home Services President and CEO John Bearden to assist the company "with key growth opportunities in major markets," the company said today.

Bearden, who left GMAC Home Services in June after eight years at the company, will "play a key role in driving domestic growth in major markets across all of Realogy’s brands," Realogy said.

Realogy also announced the appointment of Phillip Hugh as executive vice president of franchise sales for Realogy, and Tim Henderson as senior vice president of franchise sales for the Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate brand.

Other Realogy brands and business units include Century 21, Coldwell Banker, The Corcoran Group, ERA, Sotheby’s International Realty, NRT LLC, Cartus and Title Resource Group.

Before leading GMAC Home Services, Bearden served as president and CEO of Coldwell Banker Affiliates of Canada. He was also a president of Coldwell Banker Professionals, a franchise affiliate serving the Denver, Colo., and Nashville, Tenn., markets.

GMAC Home Services, the parent company of GMAC Real Estate and GMAC Relocation, was acquired by Canadian-based Brookfield Residential Property Services in a deal announced in September 2008.

GMAC Real Estate announced a merger with Columbus, Ohio-based Real Living in November 2009. The companies will operate under the Real Living name under parent company Brookfield RPS, with Real Living executive Harley E. Rouda Jr. as president (see story).

In his final year at GMAC Real Estate, Bearden was involved in an attempt to keep one of GMAC Real Estate’s largest brokerages, Atlanta-based Metro Brokers Inc. The companies engaged in a legal dispute (see story), and last month Metro Brokers announced it was affiliating with Realogy’s Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate (see story).

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