Tracy Kasper, the president of the National Association of Realtors, resigned after she received a threat to disclose a personal matter, the trade group said in a Monday press release. It’s the third recent executive shake-up at the large real estate industry trade group as it faces ongoing pressure with legal battles over broker commissions.
Kasper “informed NAR’s leadership team that she recently received a threat to disclose a past personal, nonfinancial matter unless she compromised her position at NAR,” the NAR said in the statement. Kasper declined to do so, alerted authorities, and decided to step down.
Kevin Sears, an agent from Springfield, Mass., will become president immediately.
“The leadership team is deeply concerned about any attempt to undermine its governance and, as a result, is taking steps to protect the integrity of the organization,” NAR said. Kasper said in the statement that “I always have put the interests of NAR first. As a result of the recent threat and given the significance of this moment for myself, my family and the organization, it is again time for me to put the interests of NAR first.”
The move is the latest crisis at the large trade group following sexual harassment allegations against its former president, a CEO change, and ongoing legal fights concerning broker commissions.
Kasper had been the trade group’s president since August, when Kenny Parcell, who had been in the post starting in November 2022, resigned. Parcell departed after the publication of a
New York Times
article described sexual harassment allegations against him from staff and members, the trade group said at the time.
The two resignations aren’t the trade group’s only high-profile executive exits. NAR said in early November that Bob Goldberg, its CEO for three decades, would step down earlier than planned, and named Nykia Wright its interim CEO.
The trade group remains tied up in litigation over broker commissions. A Missouri jury in October found that the trade group, along with several brokerages, conspired to keep brokerage fees for sellers higher than they would be otherwise.
NAR is the main professional organization for U.S. real estate agents, with about 1.6 million members in 2023. It’s also one of the nation’s top spenders on lobbying, according to OpenSecrets.org. The trade group spent about $34 million on lobbying in 2023, according to the research group, the second-most of any group behind the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
Write to Shaina Mishkin at [email protected]
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