Todd Alexander changes colours – and a $100k invitation

In this week’s edition of Movers +Shakers…

REA Group's marketing chief swaps Australia for the top job at Trade Me

After a decade shaping REA Group's customer and marketing agenda, our loss is NZ's gain. Kul Singh is heading home to lead Trade Me as CEO. He takes over from Anders Skoe, who wraps up seven years at the helm at the end of September, with Katrina Konstas stepping into Kul's former role at REA Group from 1 September. More here

Todd Alexander appointed CMO of Century 21, BHG

Todd Alexander steps into the role from 1 September, having spent recent years building out a 20-person marketing team as part of Ray White Group's Senior Leadership Group. His remit now stretches well beyond one market, covering Century 21 across Australasia, plus Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate. More here

Valentina Parra named Ray White Victoria and Tasmania COO

Seventeen years after starting on reception in Queensland at 18, Valentina Parra now sits in Ray White Victoria and Tasmania's newly created COO seat. CEO Domenic Belfiore, who's worked alongside her for the past seven years, will lean on her to run the corporate team day to day while he chases network growth. Her own goal isn't just scale – it's leading on compliance and customer experience too. More here

Nima Aliasgary joins LJ Hooker as sales director

Nima Aliasgary's track record earned him Chairman's Elite Performer status and a top one per cent ranking among his former network's agents, according to LJ Hooker. Now he's putting that record to work as sales director alongside principals Kathleen Fairweather and Michael Ferguson, tasked with growing the Narrabeen and Forestville offices across the Northern Beaches and Forest areas. More here

O'Brien Real Estate unveils refreshed brand identity

Sixteen years in, Dean O'Brien is giving his network's visual identity its biggest overhaul since founding it in 2010, with new logo, colours and messaging landing across Victorian offices on 1 September. The refresh leans on people, connection and possibility as its guiding ideas. "We haven't changed who we are," Dean says. "We've created a brand that better reflects who we've become and where we're going." More here

Barry Plant reports growth amid softer Victorian market

Melbourne's median house price slipped 1.1 per cent over the year to June, yet Barry Plant's numbers moved the other way – listings up 16.1 per cent, appraisals up 12.8 per cent, and 245 agents crossing the $100,000 GCI or sales milestone. CEO Lisa Pennell points to it as evidence the network is building on a stronger base heading into the new financial year, not just weathering a soft patch. More here

REMAX Australia's RMX26 conference draws close to 200 members

Close to 200 REMAX members made the trip to the Sunshine Coast for RMX26, filling two days with sales and property management breakouts, a marketing panel led by Operations Director Josh Davoren, and a Q&A with the network's top auction performer, Henry Wong. Mat Steinwede opened proceedings with his story of adversity and reinvention, while D'Leanne Lewis, more than three decades into a career she says chose her, spoke on staying true to your own path. More here

Jellis Craig Port Phillip adds prestige experience with Hamish Palmer-Hill appointment

Hamish Palmer-Hill brings his prestige track record to Jellis Craig Port Phillip, an office building on roots dating back to the mid-1980s and leading the inner-south market since 2010. For Hamish, it's a chance to push his career forward at a moment he sees as one of genuine momentum in the area. More here

Jack Gilchrist – building a real estate empire in South Gippsland

Jack Gilchrist's path here wasn't a straight line – a law offer he turned down, then property management, then the sales listings other agents didn't want. Three years after that first slow start he sold roughly 80 properties in a single year, and by July 2022 he'd moved his Korumburra business under the Area Specialist banner. More here

LATEST ROLES

FOUNDIT strengthens Sydney Eastern Suburbs presence with appointment of George Goldsworthy as partner

George Goldsworthy holds a Bachelor of Commerce, a Master of Entrepreneurship and Innovation and an MBA, credentials she's paired with a straightforward rule for clients: sometimes the best advice is not to buy. At FOUNDIT, she'll run acquisitions start to finish, from brief to settlement, for owner-occupiers, investors and developers across the eastern suburbs. More here

Rural group named number one in Ray White network

A goal set a year ago has now been delivered: James Croft, Sally Croft, James Arthur and Alison Jones have taken their group from three offices to five, with Warwick also landing ninth nationally. Their focus now shifts from reaching the top spot to holding it. More here

Harcourts Batemans Bay owners open second office in Narooma

Two locations, one team – that's the philosophy Omania Terry and Dene Lewthwaite are taking into Narooma, with Dene's 27 years in the industry and Omania's client-relationships background now stretching across southern Eurobodalla. "We've always believed that real estate is about people and relationships," Omania said. "Having a presence in Narooma means we can be even more accessible to clients across southern Eurobodalla, while still bringing the same team approach and local knowledge to everything we do." More here

Harcourts Property Specialists opens two new WA offices

Since 2003, Harcourts Property Specialists has built a property management book across Perth that now stretches to more than 30 years' combined experience, and this year has picked up Titanium Awards for growth and performance along the way. Four offices in, with Subiaco and Hopetoun now added and seven salespeople on board, Victor Paz says the team's confidence comes from having weathered every kind of market Perth has thrown at it. More here

Beau Miller takes over as principal of Whitsundays agency Taylors

Fifteen properties under her own name before she'd finished her twenties, then a stint overseeing thousands more for Elders across two states – Beau Miller has spent years building toward exactly this kind of call. She's now settled into the principal's chair at Taylors Property Specialists, a business she describes as her latest leap into ownership. More here

Harcourts Tasmania invites charities to claim $100,000 already raised

That $100,000 didn't come from a single cheque – it's the sum of countless charity auctions and property-linked fundraisers run by Harcourts Tasmania offices over time. Belinda Dowde is now steering it toward eligible groups before the 3 November deadline, with local presentations planned to mark where every dollar lands. More here

Ray White Queensland holds firm on targets after tough year

Three decades in, and the Max White Award finally has Leesa Paull's name on it. The Ray White Collective Group Operations Manager took home the network's top individual honour at this year's Brisbane ceremony, using her moment on stage to hand the credit straight to the admin teams and EAs she says make the results possible. More here

Rohin Arora – from early setbacks to $1 million at 30

One listing changed everything for Rohin Arora – a $350,000-above-reserve sale in Upper Ferntree Gully that he estimates generated around 50 further sales. That "incubation period" building his database from scratch has since paid off with a top 100 national ranking and back-to-back Agent of the Year honours across four suburbs. More here

And finally…