Ex-Appraisal Institute Prez Accused of Sexual Harassment

Serious allegations of sexual harassment and testing fraud are dogging the Appraisal Institute, the organization that regulates real estate appraisers nationwide.

Former chief executive officer Cindy Chance filed a wrongful termination lawsuit Thursday alleging sexual harassment and retaliation, the New York Times reported. She claimed the institute’s vice president and former president, Craig Steinley, groped her, made lewd comments about her body and called her his “girlfriend.”

Chance’s lawsuit follows multiple similar accusations against Steinley, who denies all allegations.

The institute privately paid $412,000 to settle a harassment claim from former chief financial officer Beata Swacha, who accused Steinley of “wildly inappropriate behavior.” In total, at least eight women reportedly filed complaints against Steinley over the past decade and three claimed he groped them.

“He manipulates and controls people through sexual harassment,” Chance told the Times.

Multiple women described a pattern of unwanted touching and inappropriate comments that appraisers said had been an “open secret” for years. One former staffer reported Steinley groped her during a 2018 board meeting, but claims no record of her complaint was kept.

In a separate lawsuit, former education director Alissa Akins claims she was wrongfully terminated after discovering significant errors in the institute’s certification testing system.

Akins discovered administrators incorrectly scored answer keys for appraiser certification exams for years, potentially allowing unqualified individuals to work as certified appraisers, according to her lawsuit. After rescoring a random sample of 300 exams, she allegedly found examiners incorrectly scored at least 17 percent of tests.

When Akins recommended an audit, she claims leaders told her to ignore her findings and fired her weeks later. The institute denies her allegations.

The Appraisal Institute, which has 16,000 dues-paying members and influences the work of approximately 70,000 appraisers nationwide, said it commits to a “safe and respectful environment” and maintains policies to address harassment and discrimination.

The institute — and industry at large — has been under scrutiny for some time, particularly in the area of bias, as approximately 94 percent of residential appraisers are white and 60% are male, according to labor statistics.

“There is a culture of sexual harassment, cronyism and good old boys,” said Sandra Winter, a former board member.

— Holden Walter-Warner