Realtor group president resigns after blackmail threat, the latest leadership turmoil
LOS ANGELES — The National Assn. of Realtors is grappling with more turmoil in its leadership ranks two months after the trade group’s chief executive stepped down well before his planned retirement.
The Chicago organization said Monday that President Tracy Kasper has resigned, effective immediately, and is being succeeded by the trade group’s president-elect, Kevin Sears, a Massachusetts broker.
In a statement, the association said Kasper recently received a “threat to disclose a past personal, non-financial matter unless she compromised her position at NAR.”
Kasper, a Realtor from Nampa, Idaho, refused to comply and reported the threat to law enforcement, the association said. The trade group did not disclose who threatened Kasper or what specific action they wanted her to take that would have compromised her role at the organization, which says it has more than 1.5 million members.
“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,” Kasper said in a statement.
Southern California home prices fell slightly in November, but experts don’t expect values to plunge because there’s an extreme shortage of homes for sale.
The association said its leadership team is “deeply concerned about any attempt to undermine its governance” and is taking steps to “protect the integrity” of the organization.
Kasper’s sudden departure is the latest in a recent string of executive changes at the Realtors group.
In early November, former CEO Bob Goldberg announced he would be stepping down nearly two months before his planned retirement. That announcement came the same week that the trade group was dealt a punishing blow in federal court after a jury in Kansas City, Mo., found that the association and some of the nation’s biggest real estate brokerages artificially inflated commissions paid to real estate agents.
Facing potentially billions in damages, the National Assn. of Realtors has said it is appealing the verdict.
The association selected Nykia Wright, former chief executive of the Chicago Sun-Times, to take over as interim CEO in November.
In August, former President Kenny Parcell resigned after a report in the New York Times that detailed sexual harassment allegations against the Utah broker by employees and members of the association. Parcell denied the accusations.
Kasper, then president-elect, took over immediately after Parcell’s exit.
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