Sue Yannaccone
Realogy Holdings Corp., the massive real estate company that counts among its sprawling portfolio of brands Coldwell Banker, the Corcoran Group and Century 21, has appointed Sue Yannaccone as regional executive vice president of NRT, the company’s residential brokerage business.
Yannaccone, formerly the president and chief executive of the company’s ERA Franchise Systems, will oversee NRT’s Coldwell Banker brokerage operations across the Eastern Seaboard and the Midwest when she assumes the new position on March 5.
Simon Chen, formerly chief operating officer for ERA, will replace Yannaccone as president and chief executive of ERA Franchise Systems, according to an announcement made on Friday.
Simon L. Chen
“The internal changes we made today are intended to take advantage of our leadership talent and deep bench across Realogy to best position us to deliver on our growth strategy that is aligned with serving and supporting agents,” said John Peyton, president and chief executive officer of Realogy Franchise Group, the company’s franchise services segment.
“While focusing on the highest points of leverage, we are also taking steps to improve our agility and streamline our respective franchise and brokerage businesses,” he added. “We are working closely together to accelerate change and more closely synchronize our organizations to support Realogy’s agent-centric strategy and ultimately drive better business results.”
Separately, Fred Schmidt, a 15-year Realogy veteran, will retire in June, capping a career that most recently included a position as president and chief operating officer at Coldwell Banker Commercial Affiliates, according to the announcement. Schmidt served 35 years in commercial real estate and joined Coldwell Banker Commercial in 2003. The company’s commercial unit will now merge with Coldwell Banker Real Estate under its current president, Charlie Young.
Fred Schmidt
“We thank Fred Schmidt for his 15 years of leadership at Coldwell Banker Commercial and Realogy, and wish him well in his retirement,” Peyton said. “Under Charlie Young’s leadership, we will now align the Coldwell Banker commercial and residential real estate organizational structure in a more integrated manner to better serve our affiliated agents and brokers.”
The announcements come on the heels of a corporate restructuring under Realogy’s new CEO Ryan Schneider, who took the reins Jan. 1. Thus far, the company has appointed Ryan Gorman as president and chief executive officer of the residential brokerage NRT, among other shifts. Gorman, who previously served as chief strategy and operating officer at the firm, replaced Bruce Zipf, who will transition to the role of executive advisor to newly installed Realogy Holdings Corp. President Ryan Schneider, who himself was tapped last year to lead.
Realogy operates a number of business units and brands, many of which are well-known in real estate and beyond, including:
- Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate
- Century 21
- Coldwell Banker
- Coldwell Banker Commercial
- The Corcoran Group
- ERA
- Sotheby’s International Realty
- ZipRealty
- NRT LLC
- Cartus
- Title Resource Group
- ZapLabs, Realogy’s technology development subsidiary
