Industry outsider joins Baird & Warner as COO 

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.

Baird & Warner adds 'accomplished leader' to its C-suite

Baird & Warner has appointed Sarah Casalan to serve as chief operating officer, bringing an executive with franchise and operations experience to the independent Chicagoland brokerage's senior leadership team.

Casalan most recently served as president of The UPS Store, where she led a network of more than 5,500 locations and 3,900 franchise owners across North America. Throughout her career, she has built experience supporting independent businesses, improving operating systems and developing resources for business owners, according to a news release.

At Baird & Warner, Casalan will oversee operational strategy and implementation. She will work with company leadership, independent contractors and employees to improve processes and support for agents, office leaders and clients, the firm said.

Casalan "is an accomplished leader whose experience supporting entrepreneurs at scale makes her uniquely suited for this role," Baird & Warner President and CEO Steve Baird said. "Her operational expertise, strategic mindset, fresh perspective coming from outside the real estate industry and commitment to empowering people on the front lines will enable us to continue improving how we support our agents and strengthen the foundation of our business for the future."

Casalan's appointment follows several recent leadership changes at the firm, including the promotion of Lucy Baird to the company's board and the elevation of Laura Ellis to the C-suite this spring. More recently, Baird & Warner appointed Jeanette Cutler as CMO in July.

Rocket promotes 22-year company leader

Leaders at Rocket Companies announced this week that Nicole Beattie has been named chief servicing officer at Rocket Mortgage, a promotion that comes more than two decades after Beattie joined the company — then known as Quicken Loans — as a mortgage banker.

Beattie has climbed the ranks at Rocket over the years, eventually serving as CEO of Rocket Close and helping the company navigate its 2025 acquisition of Redfin. Her return to Rocket Mortgage is "a homecoming," President and CEO Jay Bray said in a LinkedIn post, adding that Beattie is "back, with a broader view of the business, at a moment when nearly 10 million clients trust us with one of the biggest decisions of their lives."

In her own post, Beattie said she is "excited to be back in Servicing." Though leaving the Rocket Close team "was harder than I expected," Beattie wrote, she "can't wait to do the hard but exciting work of writing the next chapter" in her new role.

In addition to Beattie's promotion, Bray noted that Jared Bourcier, an executive at Mr. Cooper prior to the company's acquisition by Rocket last year, has also been named SVP of mortgage finance at Rocket.

Editor's note: AI was used in the initial drafting of this content, which was then thoroughly reviewed, fact-checked and revised by a Real Estate News editor.