RESO chair to step down; CoStar Canada names chief economist 

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.

MRED CEO to vacate RESO chair position

Rebecca Jensen is preparing to step down as chair of the Real Estate Standards Organization's (RESO) board.

In a letter, Jensen reflected on the "incredible" opportunities she's had to lead the organization, first serving as chair from 2011 to 2015 and returning to the role in 2020. She described her time at RESO — which began in 2010, shortly after the organization's founding — as a "tour of duty": "Leading RESO has been one of the greatest honors of my professional life," she wrote. "It has challenged and inspired me in ways I never could have anticipated when I first joined this community."

Jensen, who is also CEO of the Chicagoland MLS Midwest Real Estate Data, noted that RESO "was still defining its identity" when she volunteered to serve as chair the first time. Now, "RESO's best years are right in front of us," she wrote.

Jensen will relinquish her role as chair at the end of 2026 but will remain on RESO's board. 

"Leadership development is essential to the long-term success of any organization," Jensen wrote. "We have many members of the RESO community who are ready to lead. If you believe you have a RESO tour of duty calling, please volunteer."

The announcement comes as MRED continues to battle a lawsuit filed by Zillow over listing policies, which required Jensen to testify at a preliminary injunction hearing last week.  

Luxury Presence adds industry relations exec

Marketing platform Luxury Presence has appointed Sunny Lake Hahn to serve as its head of industry relations, according to a July 6 LinkedIn post.

Lake Hahn was most recently chief of staff at Council of Multiple Listing Services and has also been a consultant for brokerages, MLSs, proptech firms and real estate industry trade organizations. That breadth of experience, she noted in her post, has given her an understanding of real estate professionals who are pro-MLS, and of those who are "treating the MLS as the thing standing in the way."

In her new role, Lake Hahn said she will "work with MLSs, vendors, and industry organizations so that listing data moves cleanly and our shared clients never have to think about the plumbing underneath their business."

"I've spent my career on both sides of this, and I have a lot of respect for how hard the MLS side actually is," she wrote. "I'm here to build these relationships the right way, in partnership with the people who steward this data."

CoStar appoints top economist for Canada

CoStar Group announced this week that it has hired Mario Lefebvre as the company's Canada-based chief economist.

Lefebvre boasts over three decades of economics, real estate research and public policy experience. In the past decade, he has served as an advisory partner at the Montreal-based consulting firm Aviseo Conseil, a lecturer at Université de Sherbrooke and regional director for Quebec at the Bank of Canada, according to a news release.

In his new role, CoStar said Lefebvre will provide the company's Canadian clients with economic and commercial real estate analysis and forecasts.

"Mario's deep understanding of both the Canadian economy and commercial real estate industry makes him exceptionally well positioned to lead our efforts," said Jay Spivey, SVP of CoStar's analytics arm. 

"His extensive experience spanning central banking, institutional real estate investment, economic research and public policy will further strengthen the insights and expertise we deliver to our clients."