‘We need to be debating from within,’ NAR CEO says 

Nykia Wright, interim CEO of the beleaguered National Association of Realtors, understands that real estate professionals are frustrated — with the association, with rules changes and with ongoing legal challenges.

"We've got to work on that trust factor," she acknowledged during an exclusive interview on the Real Estate Insiders Unfiltered podcast hosted by industry leaders James Dwiggins and Keith Robinson.

Doing that will help members engage with NAR directly rather than venting more broadly, Wright said. "To the extent that we are debating in public forums that are confusing consumers, that is to the detriment of everyone, right?"

Wright took over the CEO role during a tumultuous time for the National Association of Realtors: Its president had stepped down following allegations of sexual misconduct, the industry lost the Sitzer/Burnett commissions case and longtime CEO Bob Goldberg hastened his departure, handing her the reins in November 2023.

Since then, Wright has worked largely outside the spotlight, mostly allowing NAR President Kevin Sears to serve as the association's ambassador, speaking to groups and gatherings around the country.

But that doesn't mean Wright has nothing to say.

Bringing 'unhappy stakeholders' back to the fold

Let's start with the settlement NAR made in March. It protected most agents, brokerages and MLSs from commissions-related litigation and earned some praise — but also significant discontent.

"Of the options that we were given, this was the path that made the most sense for us," Wright said. "We understand that there were some unhappy stakeholders."

Numerically, NAR has not seen the attrition that some have expected. But Wright said the association isn't taking anything for granted. "There's a saying: Listen to the whispers so you don't have to hear the screams, right? So the whispers of people wanting to leave is where we put our head on a swivel, get out there and start figuring out how we can bring those people back into the fold."

She knows it won't be easy. "I think some people will take a while, and some people may never come back, but we are not going to count the day before evening and assume that that's true."

Keeping frustrations in the family

Frustration is understandable, but "we need to be debating from within," Wright said. "Bring that frustration in-house so that we can be the best organization that we can be."

To do otherwise means "we're confusing consumers, we're confusing plaintiff's attorneys, we're confusing the Department of Justice," Wright added. "This is a very, very critical moment, using our language in as judicious a way as possible is my absolute plea."

Doing that will help make the industry "stronger than ever," she said. "We will come out on the other side of this with new business models that have been created." And there will still be "an opportunity for people to make a good living doing this type of work. And that's what we have to remember."

What's next for NAR?

NAR's journey includes final approval of the settlement, which is expected on Nov. 26 — but not a certainty. "Getting through November is going to be difficult," Wright said.

But ultimately, the goal is for the National Association of Realtors to "be the preeminent trade organization across the world," Wright said. "It's not so much how many members we have. It's who we are, how we show up for our members, the value that we add to them. I would like for people to understand, lean back in and trust us a bit more."

What's next for Nykia Wright?

Wright's tenure as interim CEO started earlier than anticipated and is ending later than originally planned. "My contract is through the end of the year," she said. "I will not change anything as it relates to how my life has been designed. I bloom where I'm planted, and I let the universe take care of the rest of the details."

Wright, who began her career in the financial services industry, joined the Chicago Sun-Times in 2017 as chief operating officer, was promoted to CEO the next year, then departed in 2023. "Before the Sun-Times, I was solving business problems across multiple billion-dollar institutions," she said in an interview with Chief, when her lack of newspaper experience came up. "Understanding basic business fundamentals, those don't change. But what does change is the ideation and the strategy. You begin to see the common threads, but you also begin to see how people innovate across those ideas. It's what I call business cross-training."

What is Wright most proud of?

When asked on the Unfiltered podcast about her proudest achievement at NAR, Wright highlighted the "very, very significant" working relationship she has with current NAR president Sears. "I have enormous respect for Kevin. I have an enormous respect for his leadership style, his leadership team. And I think that that has really been the secret sauce."

It's also been the answer to questions about her real estate experience: "One additional person having a real estate background is not going to move the needle, but if you've got someone with decades of real estate experience and then someone with decades of experience outside of the real estate industry, but having adjacent experience, I mean that is really, really a powerful thing."

The views, thoughts and opinions expressed in the Real Estate Insiders podcast belong solely to the podcast creators and guests, and not Real Estate News.