People on the Move: Anywhere shuffles execs, Zillow hires policy pro 

Editor's note: As an industry with millions of agents and over 100,000 brokerage companies, new leaders rise to the top every day. Here we highlight executives and other notable leaders who've recently taken on, or stepped away from, roles that influence the residential real estate landscape. 

Anywhere adds CTO, loses COO

Brokerage giant Anywhere Real Estate has announced two shifts within its C-suite: The appointment of a new chief technology officer and the departure of the company's chief operating officer.

Rudy Wolfs joins Anywhere as CTO after more than three decades in the financial services industry. He has held executive roles overseeing data, engineering and systems development at firms including Capital One and ING. Most recently, he led a fintech startup.

As the technology and product leader at Anywhere, he will guide strategy and serve on the company's executive committee.

"Rudy is an incredibly experienced technology leader who brings innovation and entrepreneurship to his work, whether he's launching a new digital company or helping large-scale organizations drive digital transformation," said Anywhere President and CEO Ryan Schneider. "He has a very successful track record of growing and attracting great technology talent, reimagining complex systems, and moving with speed to deliver strategic results."

Meanwhile, Melissa McSherry, who joined Anywhere as COO two years ago, will be stepping down. She will remain in the role until Feb. 26 and stay on as strategic advisor until the beginning of April.

Prior to Anywhere, McSherry was an SVP at Visa. She spoke at the T3 Tech Summit in October about Anywhere's use of AI to drive inclusion, emphasizing the need for AI to be purposeful: "It's not 'Are you using AI?" it's "Are you solving a problem?,'" McSherry said at the time. 

Schneider said he was "grateful for the tremendous contributions Melissa made during her time at Anywhere, and I appreciate her commitment to helping Rudy transition into his new role."

Zillow hires public policy leader

Nicole Booth has joined Zillow's government and community relations team as head of public policy and operations.

The team, led by VP Jennifer Butler, is focused on housing policy and advocacy at the local and national level. In a LinkedIn post, Booth expressed her excitement at joining "such an innovative team … dedicated to shaping the future of housing for all consumers." 

She added that in her new role, she looked forward "to contributing to meaningful change and growth and lead[ing] our Public Policy initiatives across all housing verticals."

Prior to Zillow, Booth held executive-level positions at several financial and lending firms, including mortgage compliance company QC Ally, where she served as CEO and COO; transaction management platform Notarize, where she was EVP of public affairs; and Quicken Loans, where she spent more than four years as VP of public policy. She has also served on multiple boards for mortgage and finance-related associations.