Brooks Glenn will function the Seattle-based brokerage’s variety, fairness and inclusion director. President OB Jacobi stated Windermere “feels strongly” that now could be the time to bolster DEI efforts.
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Amid a federal push to dismantle variety, fairness and inclusion initiatives, Windermere Actual Property is doubling down. The Seattle-based brokerage introduced on Monday that it’s appointed longtime dealer Brooks Glenn as its new director of inclusion and neighborhood engagement as former director, Samantha Enos, returns to full-time gross sales.
Brooks Glenn
Glenn has been in the actual property trade for 25 years, with government expertise in actual property gross sales and property administration and authorized coaching in actual property and company regulation. Outdoors of the workplace, Glenn is deeply concerned with a number of actual property organizations, together with Western Washington Realtist, The Actual Property Alliance of Seattle and the Black House Initiative. For his work, Glenn was named the Nationwide Affiliation of Actual Property Brokers’ Realtist Dealer of the Yr in 2021.
“I took this position because I recognize the historical role that real estate professionals played in perpetuating harm and systemic inequalities, particularly toward Black communities and other minority groups,” Glenn stated in an announcement. “Practices like restrictive covenants, redlining and exclusionary opportunities in real estate contributed to long-lasting harm for both homebuyers and practitioners.”
“While legal changes have been made, and hearts and minds have clearly shifted, I believe the work is far from over,” he added.
Windermere started its formal DEI journey amid a summer time of protests after Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin killed George Floyd whereas arresting him for allegedly promoting unfastened cigarettes. Brokerage president OB Jacobi stated Floyd’s demise and the broader Black Lives Matter motion made him understand Windermere might do extra to assist DEI throughout the firm and the communities they serve.
OB Jacobi
“For nearly 50 years Windermere has been deeply rooted in the communities where we do business. However, the resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement has made us realize that our roots don’t extend as deep as we thought,” Jacobi stated in an October 2020 weblog submit. “It also made us realize that over the decades, the real estate industry has played a significant role in exacerbating systemic racism through redlining and steering, which has prevented many members of historically marginalized communities from building wealth through homeownership.”
The subsequent yr, Windermere rolled out this system, which hinges on 4 pillars: Neighborhood, Homeownership, Management and Tradition.
The Neighborhood and Homeownership pillars deal with elevated involvement in racially numerous communities by homeownership training and different community-based initiatives. By these two pillars, Windermere has spent the previous 4 years serving to owners take away restrictive covenants from their titles.
In the meantime, the Management and Tradition pillars deal with creating an inclusive atmosphere and offering management coaching and alternatives, reminiscent of an internship program with the College of Washington for college students of colour excited by beginning an actual property profession.
Windermere’s DEI efforts earned them the 2024 Modern Brokerage Award from Main Actual Property Firms of the World.
Jacobi stated Enos’ return to full-time actual property gross sales gave the corporate a chance to reevaluate the way forward for its DEI program, as firms like Goal, Walmart, Amazon, McDonalds, Meta, Google and Disney scale back their DEI efforts or slash them altogether.
“Following Samantha [Enos]’s return to real estate sales, we had many discussions about the future of DEI at Windermere and how we could best continue our efforts and the goals we outlined for the company in 2021,” he stated in an announcement. “These discussions intensified in recent months as we watched companies around the country pull back from their DEI commitments.”
”Regardless of this development, we really feel strongly that it’s necessary to proceed our work to assist and advance variety, fairness, and inclusion inside our firm, inside our trade, and inside homeownership,” he added. “And we are confident that Brooks is the right person to lead those efforts.”
Glenn shall be accountable for overseeing Windermere’s general DEI targets and supporting particular person Windermere workplaces with their DEI methods and packages. He’ll additionally deal with DEI development in the actual property trade by outreach and collaboration.
“Windermere standing strong in its commitment to not simply support the movement, but become a driving force to promote Diversity, Equity and Inclusion has the potential to inspire others and change communities,” he stated. “I’m honored to do this work alongside Windermere, and if I’m honest, I recognize I’m standing on the shoulders of giants.”
