Las Vegas Realtors names new CEO; a 4th-gen leader at HUNT
Association veteran Lynda Fernandez will join LVR in January, while Charles F. Hunt will take over a century-old family firm with billions in annual sales.
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.
25-year association exec to join LVR as CEO
Las Vegas Realtors has found a new CEO, the organization announced this week.
Lynda Fernandez, currently CEO of the Hudson Gateway Association of Realtors (HGAR) in White Plains, New York, will be joining LVR in January. Fernandez was hired following a lengthy search to replace former CEO Wendy DiVecchio, a longtime LVR leader whose tenure ended in controversy related to allegations of election tampering at the association.
An experienced association exec, Fernandez took the helm at HGAR in September 2023 after a stint as CEO of the Greater Louisville Association of Realtors. The bulk of her career, however, was spent at the Miami Association of Realtors, where she held multiple executive positions during her 16 years with the organization.
In an Oct. 30 letter announcing Fernandez's hiring, 2025 LVR President George Kypreos said the association's search committee and board "were especially impressed with her relevant experience leading similar associations in different parts of the country, along with her strong communication skills, success in increasing revenue while adding value for members and her passion for the position."
The board, he added, "is confident that Lynda has the insight, leadership skills and vision needed to guide LVR into its next chapter."
The appointment appears to reflect the association's continuing efforts to remake itself after being plagued by a litany of scandals in 2024 and the sudden resignation of two leaders in early 2025. Those events prompted an apology from Kypreos, who vowed in January to change LVR's culture — one "preoccupied with egos and power struggles" — and install leaders who are "qualified, prepared, and committed to the values we stand for."
Century-old NY family firm prepares for a changing of the guard
Leadership of the HUNT Real Estate Corporation, originally founded in 1911, is being handed off to a new generation, the Buffalo-based brokerage announced this week.
Peter Hunt, the grandson of Founder Charles S. Hunt, has led the firm as CEO for two decades — a position that earned him a spot in T3 Sixty's SP 200 list of the most influential leaders in residential real estate. Now, his son Charles F. Hunt will assume the CEO role, representing the fourth generation of family leadership, while Peter Hunt will become executive chairman. (Note: Real Estate News is an editorially independent division of T3 Sixty.)
Charles F. Hunt has been with the firm since high school, according to a news release, and began selling real estate in college. In 2015, he was named executive vice president, ascending to the role of COO in 2019 and then president of residential brokerage in 2022.
"The industry has changed significantly and requires a new generation of leadership," Peter Hunt said. "My son Charlie is uniquely positioned to continue building our organization's prominence in all the regions we serve and beyond," he added.
The HUNT Real Estate Corporation includes a commercial brokerage, mortgage banking firm, insurance agency and title agency, and is the parent of HUNT Real Estate ERA, which has more than 50 branches across New York and Massachusetts. It ranked as the ninth-largest brokerage franchisee by transaction sides in 2024, according to T3 Sixty, with more than $3.6 billion in sales volume last year.