Real-estate franchisor eliminates executives

Realty Executives International Inc., a Phoenix-based franchisor of residential real-estate agencies, said owner and executive chairman Richard Rector has eliminated two top-level executive positions and reclaimed his former role as the primary decision-maker.

Rector's move to eliminate the chief executive officer and chief financial officer positions was part of a larger effort to cut costs and eliminate redundancy within the organization, Realty Executives spokeswoman Andrea Kalmanovitz said.

"He has been meeting with advisers for the entire fourth quarter," Kalmanovitz said.

Those discussions led Rector, son of Realty Executives founder Dale Rector, to fire company CEO Glenn Melton, who had been promoted to the position in September 2009.

Rather than replace Melton, Rector decided to go back to handling the day-to-day business himself.

"He is reinserting himself as president," a title Rector had relinquished when he made Melton the company's chief executive, Kalmanovitz said.

Rector also decided to eliminate the position of chief financial officer, she said, firing former CFO Karen Dunham in the process.

Those duties will be handled from now on by a financial consultant, Kalmanovitz said.

Rector had served as president and CEO of Realty Executives International from 1984, when he purchased the company from his father, until 2009, when he gave Melton the job.

Four years before purchasing the company and turning it into a global franchisor with nearly 800 franchises in 14 countries, Rector took over as president and CEO of the original Realty Executives agency in Phoenix - now the company's flagship franchise - which Dale Rector founded in 1965.

by J. Craig Anderson The Arizona Republic Jan. 21, 2011 12:00 AM





Real-estate franchisor eliminates executives