Former Meta exec tapped as new Redfin CEO 

Alessio Sanfilippo, a product and data executive, has been named the new CEO of Redfin, Rocket Companies announced on Monday. The appointment comes about seven months after former CEO Glenn Kelman's departure. 

An 'analytical' thinker: Sanfilippo has more than two decades of experience working in product, data, analytics and technology roles, Rocket noted in a press release. The tech executive joins Redfin from Meta, where he served as vice president of Insights for Reality labs. He was also VP of WhatsApp, helping to grow its adoption in the U.S. to more than 100 million monthly active users.

Prior to his time at Meta, Sanfilippo held vice presidential roles in the data and analytics department at financial tech company Intuit.

Rocket CEO Varun Krishna, who had been serving as interim Redfin CEO since January, said he has personally witnessed Sanfilippo's ability to wield data for the benefit of the consumer.

"I worked with Alessio at Intuit and saw firsthand how he combines deep analytical thinking with a real instinct for the consumer," Krishna said in a statement. "He has spent his career using data and technology to make complex products work better for enormous audiences. Now he gets to bring that experience to Redfin and help us connect home search, brokerage, mortgage, closing and servicing into one experience."

Big shoes to fill: Sanfilippo steps into a role that was shaped by one of the industry's most charismatic and memorable figures. Redfin was founded in Seattle in 2004, and Glenn Kelman joined as president and CEO in 2005, remaining in that role for more than 20 years before he announced that he'd be stepping away from the industry.

In June, an announcement from venture firm Greylock revealed that Kelman had joined the firm as an executive in residence to work with founders on leadership development and company building.

But he told Real Estate News in an email at the time that he is "still looking to start some kind of new mission-driven enterprise."

Sanfilippo, meanwhile, joins Redfin with a special affinity for the brokerage as a self-proclaimed longtime customer, according to Rocket's press release.

"Redfin has always helped make an intimidating process easier to understand," Sanfilippo said in a statement. "I'm excited to work with this team and combine what Redfin has built with Rocket's capabilities to make finding, buying and owning a home simpler for millions of people."