Broker Public Portal (BPP), which connects home searchers with an agent, appointed two new board members to its board of managers: Michael Barbaro, founder and CEO of Redwith Inc., and RJ Long, managing partner of Coldwell Banker Real Properties Group.
“RJ’s and Michael’s technology expertise and leadership skills will be indispensable,” said Alon Chaver, chairman of the board, in a statement.
Barbaro founded Redwith and its subsidiary companies, including real estate brokerage Redwith Real Estate, and Redwith Technologies, a software as a service (SaaS) development company. He is also the president and CEO of Huntsman, Meade and Partners Compass Realty Corporation, a residential and commercial real estate brokerage.
In addition, Barbaro is president of SmartMLS, a Connecticut-based MLS and leads Omni Consulting, which he founded in 1999.
Long’s professional career spans 16 years in the industry with prior experience in investment sales, government consultation, asset management and commercial real estate development. He started as a Realtor for Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage and is now the managing partner of Real Properties Group and its Coldwell Banker franchises, which includes Coldwell Banker Prime Properties.
“Both Long and Barbaro join the board at a critical juncture as we review proposals to replace the Homesnap partnership that terminated on November 1st, 2022,” said Lyon Real Estate CEO Pat Shea, who leads the nominating committee.
BPP, a collaborative venture between real estate brokerages and MLSs, serves more than 120 MLSs representing 850,000 real estate agents and brokers.
BPP operated under the Homesnap brand through a joint venture from January 2017 to October 2022. Homesnap and BPP had tried to negotiate updated joint-venture terms since Homesnap was bought by CoStar in 2020, but parted ways. They also decided to shut down National Broker Portal LLC, jointly owned by the two companies since December 2016.