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Los Angeles

Billy Jack Carter, Hilton & Hyland GM, resigns

Executive steps down from upscale brokerage without a job lined up, says “the dynamic of the industry has changed”

Billy Jack Carter (LinkedIn, Getty Images)
Billy Jack Carter (LinkedIn, Getty Images)

Billy Jack Carter, the longtime general manager of brokerage Hilton & Hyland, has submitted his resignation to the firm. His last day on the job was Sept. 2.

“This is all a bit surreal. Hilton & Hyland is like a family to me,” Carter said in an exclusive interview with TRD.

The well-respected executive vice president ran the day-to-day business at Hilton & Hyland for eight years. He was well-known for a close relationship with firm founders Rick Hilton and Jeff Hyland.

Hyland passed away in February from cancer.

“I love this company and am grateful for the opportunity,” Carter said. “The dynamic of the industry has changed, in part because of Covid and increasingly competitive brokerage models.”

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Carter did not have another job lined up. He forecast that he would continue to work in real estate. He also predicted that an interim general manager would follow him at the firm.

Hilton & Hyland distributed an office-wide email late Friday morning confirming Carter’s last day at the company would be Sept. 2. Co-founder Rick Hilton did not respond to a request for comment.

Hyland’s death put the company at a crossroads. In August, it was confirmed that top-producing Hilton & Hyland agent Drew Fenton had filed papers with the California Secretary of State to start his own venture, Carolwood Partners. Fenton has not returned requests for comment on the new venture.

Hilton & Hyland has served as a launching pad for some of the biggest stars of Los Angeles’ residential brokerage industry. Mauricio Umansky, co-founder of The Agency worked there, as well as Branden and Rayni Williams, of Williams & Williams Estate Group.

Carter’s honors include being named general manager of the year by the Greater Los Angeles Realtors Association in 2021. His company biography said that he worked at Hilton & Hyland during a time of explosive growth and oversaw the company making $24 billion in sales.

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