Nykia Wright was named the National Association of Realtors’ CEO on a permanent basis, nine months after she was hired as interim leader amid the industry shakeup over how agents are compensated.
Wright led the organization after joining the company on an interim basis last year during negotiations to settle federal legal claims related to the longstanding practice of how much home sellers compensate buyers for their agents’ commissions. As part of the settlement, the NAR agreed to prohibit agents from offering such compensation on real estate listing services, though consumers can still pursue such offers through negotiation.
The organization is looking for Wright "to lead us through this time of transformation,” NAR President Kevin Sears said in a statement.
Among Wright’s immediate priorities will be moving beyond the settlement to focus on education and training for its more than 1.5 million members, the NAR said.
Prior to joining NAR, Wright was CEO of the Chicago Sun-Times newspaper. In that role, she helped the publication merge with Chicago public radio station WBEZ, creating one of the largest nonprofit local newsrooms in the United States, according to the statement. She previously worked as a consultant advising large companies on their operations and finances.
In a February post on the NAR website, Wright credited her experience transforming the newspaper with giving her the tools she needed to respond to the buyer agent compensation issue.
“Personally, I am bringing my strategy and turnaround experience to bear in driving this transformation,” she wrote. In Monday’s statement she said she is “hyper-focused on building trust with NAR’s many stakeholders.”
Wright replaced NAR CEO Bob Goldberg in November 2023 after he resigned more than a year earlier than had been expected. Goldberg’s decision to step down came on the heels of a jury verdict in the U.S. District Court for Western Missouri awarding a group of sellers damages over the practice of compensating buyer agents. The NAR, with offices in Chicago and Washington, D.C., reached the settlement with sellers in March. Goldberg stepped down following a leadership shakeup.