CoStar Group continues to beef up its leadership team as the “portal wars” intensify. The company on Thursday announced the return of former vice president of investor and public relations Richard Simonelli, who had been away from the company for five years, and the promotion of Cindy Eakin to chief accounting officer.
Simonelli will return as CoStar's new head of investor relations. After eight years at CoStar in 2019, Simonelli worked as an independent consultant and most recently served as senior vice president of industry relations at Compass.
In addition to his previous role at CoStar, Simonelli has held executive positions at the New York Stock Exchange, Citigate Dewe Rogerson, MS&L, MWW Group and Abbey Road Partners (now known as Simonelli Capital).
“We are pleased to welcome Rich to CoStar Group and announce Cindy's promotion,” CoStar Group CEO and founder Andy Florence said in a statement. “As we embark on a new period of growth, we believe Rich's experience with CoStar Group's ambitious plans and track record of success, as well as his experience in the residential real estate industry, will be more important than ever to CoStar Group. His ability to partner with our shareholders will take on new importance.”
Eakin, who joined CoStar Group in 2016, has served as the company's vice president and controller and chief investor relations officer during his tenure. In his new role as chief accounting officer, he will be responsible for corporate accounting, earnings reporting, tax compliance, policy and financial reporting. Eakin has more than 35 years of experience as a financial executive and previously worked at KPMG US, MCI Corp., Teleglobe, BearingPoint, Iridium, LivingSocial, Chelfie and Evolent Health.
“Cindy's previous experience as our controller and her more recent experience in investor relations make her ideally suited to oversee our accounting function,” said Florence. “I look forward to seeing both Cindy and Rich excel in their new roles.”
In June, CoStar announced it had hired former Freddie Mac executive Christian Lown as its chief financial officer. In their new roles, Simonelli and Eakin will report to Lown.
“He has an unparalleled understanding of M&A, capital markets and corporate finance, and through his experience at Freddie Mac, he also has in-depth knowledge of the homebuying market at a time of rapid growth for the Homes.com platform,” Florence said at the time of Lown's appointment.
Earlier this month, Realtor.com's parent company, Move, filed a lawsuit against CoStar Group and former Realtor.com employee James Kaminsky, alleging that current Homes.com employees stole Realtor.com's trade secrets to help fuel Homes.com's rapid growth.
In an interview with HousingWire, Florence called the lawsuit a “PR stunt” and said the claims Move has made against CoStar Group specifically have no merit.