In this episode, I speak with a longtime friend of Notorious — who even writes here periodically — Sam DeBord, CEO of RESO, Real Estate Standards Organization. But rather than go on and on about real estate data standards, which is of interest to… well… even fewer people than are interested in real estate or MLS issues, we decided to discuss Sam’s five-part series on the MLS. You can and should read all five parts if you’re in the MLS space (or interested in it). Start with Part 1 here: The Marketplace MLS Mandate.
We went over all five parts, got his thoughts on why the MLS needs to be thinking along these lines, and what the implications might be.
Plus, as we did with the Joe Rand conversation, we shared this on YouTube as well to see whether you actually wanted to see talking heads or not.
Enjoy!
Conversation with Sam DeBord, RESO
Podcast Only:
Video:
Bio of Sam DeBord:
Sam DeBord is CEO of the Real Estate Standards Organization (RESO). He has served in a wide range of industry leadership positions including as President’s Liaison for MLS and Data Management with the National Association of REALTORS®. He sits on the Board of Directors for NAR, Second Century Ventures, and CRMLS. Previously, he worked with PricewaterhouseCoopers in management and technology consulting. DeBord is also a recognized real estate industry writer for REALTOR® Magazine, Inman News, and the Swanepoel Trends Report.
-rsh
1 thought on “The Notorious Interview: Episode 20 – Sam DeBord, CEO, RESO”
Sam DeBoard is paid by RESO $195K (per last 990 filing in 2019 for this 501(c)(6)). Who votes on his salary? RESO has 19 independent voting members of the governing body. All 19 are “independent” per the filing. I don’t know the legal definition of “independent” but this is what I looked up:
“An independent board of directors is comprised of people who totally have no material interests in the company other than their directorship. In the last two decades, the concept of independent boards of directors has increasingly become popular as investors demand good corporate governance.”
Here is the last 990 filing for RESO. Good stuff:
https://apps.irs.gov/pub/epostcard/cor/454079029_201912_990O_2020081917244261.pdf
Here are some of his “independent voting members” listed on the 2019 form. Now I know the type of data Corelogic and Black Knight collect. I’m just asking the questions. At what point do people start asking is their big dollars in data and does this data take a front seat to doing what is right for consumers (privacy) and small brokerages?
For example:
Paragon for Brokers (by Black Knight) has this feature: “Coming Soon is now available in Paragon”.
“https://kb.crmls.org/knowledgebase/paragon-coming-soon-status/
No conflict of interest with having a Black Knight member on the RESO board? Still independent?
I can see why some of these industry leaders want to be a voting member on the board for RESO.
Here are some of the governing body per 990:
1. https://www.linkedin.com/in/toddwcarpenter/ (Second Century Ventures).
2. https://metromls.com/metro-mls-leaders-named-to-swanepoel-power-200-list/
3. https://www.linkedin.com/in/art-carter-150103b/
4. https://www.linkedin.com/in/briandonnellan15/
5. https://www.linkedin.com/in/tflan/. (assuming this is the right Tom Flannigan).
6. https://www.reso.org/dvteam/amygorce/. (works at Corelogic)
7. https://www.blackknightinc.com/team/chip-mcavoy/. (Black Knight).
You get the idea. There are 18 governing members who have a duty. Here is the definition of “conflict of interest” by the Council of NonProfits. https://www.councilofnonprofits.org/tools-resources/conflicts-of-interest
So Sam, how are you managing conflicts of interest? Where is the small brokerage owner on your governing body? Who on your board represents the consumer? Anyone? Hard to argue the MLS is a consumer tool when no consumer advocates on your board.
Just asking the questions. The anger response by some of the men “leaders” in this industry= all I ever need to know when I ask questions. I can’t post a Meme JPEG here, but if I could post an image it would have a caption on it:
Chuck Norris Attorney: “I represent injured people”.
Cheers,
Tricia Powers
PS. Updated info on Board members since the 990 was filed.
“Other 2021 RESO Board Members:
Todd Carpenter, Director, Strategic Investments, National Association of REALTORS® (NAR); Jason Normandin, Project Manager, National Association of REALTORS® (NAR); Chip McAvoy, VP Emerging Products and Technology, Black Knight Financial Services; Mark Lesswing, Owner, Lesswing, LLC; Art Carter, CEO, California Regional MLS (CRMLS); Brian Donnellan, President & CEO, Bright MLS; Shayne Fairley, Chief Operations Officer, Stellar MLS; and Jeff Young, COO/GM, Realtors Property Resource, LLC (RPR).
“’RESO welcomes our new officers and board members, and we are thankful for the time and effort put forth by the directors whose terms are coming to an end,’ said Sam DeBord, CEO at RESO.”
“In noting departing board members Steve Byrd, CTO, Canopy MLS; Amy Gorce, Principal, Business Development, CoreLogic; Melissa King, VP of MLS Services, Stellar MLS; and Scott Petronis, Lakes Homes Realty, DeBord added, ‘Their outstanding volunteerism and tireless advocacy for RESO has set a high bar for everyone.'”
https://www.reso.org/meet-the-2021-reso-bod/
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