The Agency has a new president.
Co-founder Billy Rose will step down from that position at the Beverly Hills-based luxury brokerage, replaced by Rainy Hake Austin, former head of operations for Compass’ West Coast division, according to Inman.
Austin will report to Rose and CEO Mauricio Umansky, also a co-founder. Rose will move to vice chairman of The Agency’s board of directors.
Austin joined Compass in March 2019 when the brokerage acquired Northern California-based Alain Pinel Realtors. The Oxford University grad was an executive vice president and chief of operations for Alain Pinel for a decade.
Rose founded The Agency with Umansky and Blair Chang in 2011, and has been president for the last nine years. He was the broker of record for the company until 2018, when he stepped down citing mounting paperwork and administrative duties.
The Agency greatly expanded its footprint in recent years, but has struggled at times to retain some of its bigger producers in a highly competitive market for top agents.
In 2017, Umansky specifically called out Compass for what he called “absolutely horrendous and disgusting” poaching tactics.
Last spring, partner Cindy Ambuehl left The Agency for Compass. Brendan Fitzpatrick left the firm for Douglas Elliman last summer.
The Agency lost 45 agents between January 2018 and June 2019 in L.A. County, but added 140 during that same period. [Inman] — Dennis Lynch