Serene Smith leaves COO role at RE/MAX

More executive changes are afoot at franchise real estate brokerage RE/MAX. Serene Smith, the chief of staff and chief operating officer at RE/MAX Holdings, has transitioned to a non-executive, part-time role at the brokerage.

RE/MAX will no longer have a principal operating officer and Smith’s responsibilities will be absorbed by other executives, the company disclosed Friday in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Smith has been with the company since 2006.

Smith’s departure from the COO role comes less than four months after RE/MAX brand CEO Nick Bailey’s exit and the appointment of Amy Lessinger as president. Parent company RE/MAX Holdings also appointed former Dish Network leader Erik Carlson as CEO in November 2023.

In a first-quarter earnings call last month, RE/MAX executives told investors that they believe the productivity of RE/MAX agents will help the firm succeed following the agent commission settlement agreement by the National Association of Realtors.

On the call, Carlson cited RealTrends Verified data to illustrate how productive RE/MAX agents are. He noted that the average RE/MAX agent closed 11.8 transaction sides in 2023, more than double the average of other agents.