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NAR chief executive answers outcry with policy changes

Execs subject to calls for resignation after sexual harassment scandal at trade group

NAR Chief Executive Offers Policy Changes
NAR's Bob Goldberg (NAR, Getty)

National Association of Realtors chief executive officer Bob Goldberg responded to demands from angry staffers for top leadership to resign with changes to workplace policies.

The CEO sent an email on Thursday detailing updated policies for the trade group, according to an email reported by Crain’s. The changes are aimed at addressing staff members’ concerns over how behavior — such as that alleged in the ongoing sexual harassment scandal — is handled. 

A task force of NAR members will work with a Washington, D.C.-based law firm to assess policies and procedures regarding inappropriate behavior, Goldberg said. Claims of harassment, discrimination and misconduct will be investigated by task force of NAR members and people from a law firm based in Evanston, near the group’s Chicago headquarters. 

NAR staffers can go directly to that same Evanston law firm to complain about a member’s behavior. Finally, three task forces are being formed to investigate NAR’s work environment and will report those findings at the NAR NXT convention in November.

The email did not address calls for Goldberg to be removed from his leadership position immediately, which staffers aired in a letter reported earlier this week. The leaked message also called for the resignations of senior vice president of talent development Donna Gland and general counsel Katie Johnson to be removed and for new president Tracy Kasper.

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Concerns erupted over the the nonprofit industry group last month after the New York Times detailed a “culture of fear” under president Kenny Parcell, who resigned at the end of August after multiple women accused him of sexual harassment. He has denied the allegations. 

California-based Great Places to Work recently took away the titular distinction from the organization, which received the accolade every year since 2020.

Goldberg has been with NAR for nearly three decades and has been the group’s CEO since 2017. He is scheduled to retire at the end of next year, but staffers want to see the 1.5 million-member strong organization overhaul leadership much sooner.

— Holden Walter-Warner

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Bob GoldbergNARNational Association Of RealtorsSexual Harassment