The top 50 residential real estate influencers and innovators for 2022

PHOTO: So, after a two-year, pandemic-related hiatus, Elite Agent’s Industry Influencers list is back.

There is rarely a dull day in real estate. From mergers and acquisitions, pivoting in a changing market and continued acceleration of PropTech, 2022 has once again been a year for the record books.

Today, we reveal who we see as the top 50 influencers for 2022, assessed by how we see their impact and influence on the residential real estate industry in Australia in this calendar year*.

*see the end of this post for the criteria we used to create this list

Owen Wilson, CEO, REA Group

The market outlook may have dimmed, but that hasn’t stopped a bumper year for the REA Group under the stewardship of Owen Wilson. Over the September quarter, REA Group generated revenue of $305 million, up 16 per cent compared to last year, and EBITDA of $174 million, an increase of 11 per cent. The group’s flagship site, realestate.com.au, maintained its leadership position in 2022, generating 3.3 times more visits than the nearest competitor each month, on average. Owen has also overseen a strong workplace culture, with REA Group placing fourth on the overall 2022 Best Workplaces List for the second consecutive year and named on the inaugural Best Workplaces for Women List.

Melina Cruickshank, Chief Product and Audience Officer, REA Group

Already responsible for looking after REA’s huge audience and leading the company’s marketing push since 2018, Melina took on an expanded role in 2022. As leader of the PropTrack division, Melina has been a driving force behind the expansion of the company’s data subsidiary in 2022, with PropTrack taking the fight to CoreLogic and Domain with its own monthly price index update.

John Minns, NSW Property Services Commissioner

John Minns was at the heart of one of the NSW Government’s most surprising real estate moves in 2022. Hired as the first NSW property services commissioner in late 2021 in a two-year term, John was replaced in August with an independent statutory services commissioner, only to be reinstated a few weeks later. In the role, John has engaged extensively with the industry to devise a five-project property service strategy, in just a matter of months, including a new and more robust CPD regime for 2023-24.

Anna Neelagama, CEO, Real Estate Institute of Australia

At the helm of the nation’s peak real estate body since August 2020, Anna Neelagama has employed a customer-centric approach to leadership and revolutionised the board at the REIA. In a year that started with a boom and ended with a significantly different property market, Anna has provided a steady and reliable backbone for the industry. This year the REIA championed housing affordability, axing stamp duty and released a significant report on how blockchain will revolutionise real estate.

Jason Pellegrino, CEO, Domain

Domain Group head honcho Jason Pellegrino oversaw significant growth in residential online business this year, helping the group post a revenue of $357 million for the 2021-2022 financial year, up 23.2 per cent on the previous financial year. Jason has also overseen the growth of Domain’s Agent Solutions business unit, including the $180 million acquisition of campaign management platform Realbase, as well as a new data tie-in with the Regional Australia Institute.

Brian White AO, Chairman, Ray White Group

Often referred to as Australia’s “king of real estate”, Brian White is the third-generation leader of the Ray White Group. Brian took the helm in 1972 when his father told the then 31-year-old, “It’s all yours to run. Be a good leader.” Today, Ray White is represented in every Australian state and territory, with more than 1000 offices worldwide, including in New Zealand, Indonesia, India, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, China, the Middle East and Atlanta. The group employs more than 13,000 people.

Dan White, Managing Director, Ray White Group

Managing director of the Ray White Group since 2015, Dan White represents the fourth generation of the group’s founding family. Building and expanding the group in a hands-on manner, Dan explained at this year’s Ray White Connect conference that they have a “three-horizon approach” to growth and innovation. The approach combines the group’s core business, emerging businesses and those that are still in the concept or experimental stage.

8. Kul Singh, Chief Customer Officer, REA Group

Kul Singh joined the REA Group in 2015 and is responsible for all aspects of sales across the group, including the sales teams that support residential, commercial, developers and media customers. This year Kul oversaw the introduction of a new commercial growth and industry partnership team to boost the support it offered the real estate sector, including projects tackling property manager wellbeing.

9. Mark McLeod, Chief Strategy Officer for Real Estate, Ray White Group

When Mark McLeod speaks, real estate agents listen. One of the industry’s true thought leaders, Mark’s expertise and honest, down-to-earth approach to business and real estate make him a highly sought and respected trainer. Mark was also Elite Agent’s most read contributor in 2022, with his pieces on creating great opportunities in a changing market and controlling your attitude and processes among the top articles.

10. Leanne Pilkington, CEO, Laing+Simmons and Deputy President, REIA

With multiple Annual REA Excellence Awards under her belt as the Most Influential Woman in the Property Market and as CEO and director at Laing + Simmons, Leanne Pilkington is one of the leading authorities in the Australian real estate market. Forward-thinking and passionate, Leanne is also the deputy president of the REIA. In 2022, Laing + Simmons introduced a new, in-house property management training program to build property managers’ skills and stop the ‘churn and burn’ typically associated with the industry.

11. Mina Radhakrishnan, Co-founder, :Different

Google, Uber, Goldman Sachs & Co …. Mina Radhakrishnan’s CV reads like the who’s who of business innovators and influencers. Now the co-founder of Australian PropTech :Different, Mina is also on the board of the Tech Council of Australia. Her passion is working with startups and helping them think differently about their business. In 2022, :Different launched its all-in-one property management solution called :Different for Agencies, which delivers property management as-a-service, where it takes care of an agency’s property management service delivery, so that agency principals can focus solely on growing their rent roll and sales business.

12. Gavin Rubinstein, Founder, The Rubinstein Group

The prince of Double Bay, a digital interview maestro and now a reality television superstar, Gavin Rubinstein has had an epic 2022. With almost 80,000 followers on Instagram, Gavin is the “OG influencer”, with a nous for business that saw him expand TRG to Rose Bay, while still remaining part of the Ray White family. The group also established a new commercial division this year and Gavin starred in Season 3 of Luxe Listings Sydney.

13. Josh Phegan, Coach, Trainer, Speaker

Josh Phegan is an internationally renowned speaker, trainer and coach for high-performance real estate agents and agencies. He is one of Australia’s go-to real estate trainers and personally coaches some of the industry’s biggest names. This year he has performed at 200 events either in-person or virtually throughout the US, UK, UAE, New Zealand and Australia. He also hosts Real Estate BluePrint each year and the High Performance podcast.

14. Antony Catalano, Executive Chairman, Australian Community Media

The Cat, as he’s known by many in the industry, has been making plenty of moves in 2022. This year saw the launch of the View Media Group, backed by an investment from Seven West Media. View Media Group owns lead generation platform The Today Business, a 72 per cent stake in the listings platform Real Estate View (Australia’s third biggest portal), as well as minority stakes in AI startup Propic and utilities platform Beevo. The Cat, who previously served as CEO of Domain Group, purchased regional media group Australian Community Media from Nine in 2019 with backing from investor Alex Waislitz.

15. Tom Panos, Coach, Trainer, Auctioneer, Speaker

One of the most recognisable faces in the real estate industry, Tom Panos is known for his no-nonsense approach to business and his ability to help agents get the best out of themselves. With 30 years of experience, Tom is a renowned speaker, auctioneer and coach, having helped more than 20,000 agents learn what it takes to build a seven-figure attraction business.

16. Antonia Mercorella, CEO, Real Estate Institute of Queensland

A former legal eagle, Antonia Mercorella has been at the helm of the REIQ since October 2014, and is just as passionate now about championing members’ rights as she was on day one. This year saw Antonia fight the good fight on numerous issues including campaigning for flood victims and battling (and winning) the State Government on its controversial land tax.

17. Nerida Conisbee, Chief Economist, Ray White Group

A powerhouse in explaining the numbers behind the property market, Nerida Conisbee has the ear of the industry whenever she speaks. Such is the respect Ray White’s chief economist commands. From house prices to international migration trends, Nerida cuts through the economic jargon to make sense of what’s happening in the market in her weekly economic updates. Her regular updates on Elite Agent have also proven a hit in 2022.

18. Shaun Moriarty, Co-founder and CEO, CampaignAgent

As the Co-founder and CEO of CampaignAgent, a financial tech company providing innovative financial solutions for the real estate industry, Shaun Moriarty is well versed in changing the status quo. This year more than 25 per cent of national listings used CampaignAgent, with the percentage of vendors opting to pay later increasing 37 per cent between May and September.

19. Steve Carroll, former CEO Digital Live and General Manager of Sales – Queensland for The Agency

A real estate industry influencer with a big heart, Steve Carroll was one of the brains behind this year’s Real Estate Zoomathon – the world’s longest (33 hours +) online real estate training session. He’s also apt at getting agents to pop on their best lycra and ride 500km across Thailand to raise money for underprivileged children. This year alone he’s helped raise $287,000 for Hands Across the Water, and in total more than $1.1 million has gone to the charity. Steve also made the headlines in November when it was announced he would join The Agency as general manager of sales in Queensland.

20. David Bowie, CEO, MRI Software

He may not be a stage performer like his superstar singer namesake, but MRI Software CEO David Bowie certainly has star power in the real estate PropTech space. MRI Software has recently gone on a major buying spree, and in October agreed to purchase the ASX-listed PropTech Group for an estimated $93.4 million.