People on the Move: New CFOs at CoStar, Inside Real Estate
The companies have hired veteran financial executives to support growth efforts, with Chris Lown joining CoStar and Chris Black joining the proptech leader.
Editor's note: As an industry with millions of agents and over 100,000 brokerage companies, new leaders rise to the top every day. Here we highlight executives and other notable leaders who've recently taken on, or stepped away from, roles that influence the residential real estate landscape.
CoStar appoints mortgage exec as new CFO
CoStar Group will soon have a new chief financial officer. The commercial and residential real estate powerhouse has appointed Chris Lown as CFO following the retirement of former CFO Scott Wheeler.
Lown will officially join CoStar on July 1. He brings more than 25 years of experience in banking and finance, and for the past four years, has delved into the world of real estate lending as executive vice president and CFO at federal mortgage giant Freddie Mac. Previous roles include EVP and CFO at the student loan company Navient Corporation, and more than a decade in leadership roles at investment bank Morgan Stanley.
Lown joins CoStar as the company has made an aggressive push to expand its residential home search portal, Homes.com, investing a billion dollars in marketing. While the campaign has cut into profits, CoStar remains one of the few public real estate companies to report consistent revenue gains.
"As we seek to build upon our strong performance in recent years, I'm confident Chris is the right person to lead CoStar Group's financial operations," said Andy Florance, founder and CEO of CoStar Group.
Florance added that Lown's tenure at Freddie Mac afforded him "an intricate knowledge of the homebuying market at a time when our Homes.com platform is experiencing exponential growth."
For his part, Lown said it's "a career honor" to join CoStar, a company he has "always held in high esteem for its incredible trajectory from startup to market leader in commercial real estate data and online real estate marketplaces."
Inside Real Estate taps investment pro as CFO
Brokerage technology leader Inside Real Estate has hired Chris Black as chief financial officer.
The company is known for its flagship technology platform kvCORE, which has been adopted by major brokerages including RE/MAX and has more than 500,000 brokerage and agent users.
Black has held CFO roles for more than 20 years at companies in a range of industries including transportation, manufacturing, technology and media — but Inside Real Estate will be Black's first foray into the proptech and real estate realm.
Joe Skousen, CEO and founder of Inside Real Estate, praised Black as "a skilled and dynamic finance executive."
"I'm excited about the opportunity he will bring to help us drive even more innovation and efficiency as we continue this next phase of exciting growth," Skousen added.
"I couldn't be more excited to join the Inside Real Estate organization," said Black. "I admire the company's strong sense of community, and their commitment to putting their customer first. Joe and team have built a powerful technology platform that is uniquely positioned in the market to drive cutting edge end-to-end solutions for customers across the real estate ecosystem."