Compass has appointed Kalani Reelitz as the firm’s chief financial officer. Reelitz’s appointment will be effective on Nov. 15.
As CFO, Compass said Reelitz will be responsible for all aspects of the company’s financial operations, including investor relations, and he will focus on building sustained profitability and long term free cash flow for the brokerage.
“I could not be more excited to join the team at Compass at this critical time in the company’s journey to profitability,” Reelitz said in a statement. “With its strong foundation and a loyal, high-performing agent team, Compass has accomplished amazing things in its first decade, becoming the largest brokerage in the country by sales volume and joining the Fortune 500. I am excited to be a part of the next chapter of growth and success with this team.”
Reelitz has nearly two decades of finance, business and operational experience in the real estate and retail industries. He has served as CFO and COO at Cushman & Wakefield Americas, and spent 12 years at Walgreens serving in finance, financial planning and analysis, and internal audit roles.
“Kalani is a strong leader with a deep understanding of the real estate business,” Robert Reffkin, Compass’s CEO said in a statement. “The combination of Kalani’s operational excellence and financial discipline gained from many years of helping large public companies grow profitably will be an incredible asset as we accelerate our path to profitability.”
Reelitz’s appointment comes after the firm’s former CFO Kristen Ankerbrandt announced that she would be stepping down in early May. Ankerbrandt served as the brokerage’s CFO since 2018 and helped steer Compass to its initial public offering.
In 2021, Compass ascended to the No. 1 brokerage in the country by sales volume. According to the RealTrends rankings, Compass closed 224,067 transaction sides for a total volume of $251 billion. Despite the productivity, the brokerage has struggled to turn a profit since going public in April 2021, losing over $783 million over the past six quarters.
These struggles resulted in three rounds of layoffs between June and September 2022, including a 10% reduction in staff in June and cutting its technology team from 1,500 employees to 700 in the August and September layoffs.