Executive Compensation at the National Association of Realtors

The National Association of Realtors (NAR) is the largest professional trade association in the US. A non-profit tax-exempt 501 (c) (6) based in Chicago, Illinois, NAR represents 1.4 million members who belong to one or more of the 1,200 associations/boards and 54 state or territory associations.  Members can be residential or commercial brokers, sales people, property managers, real estate appraisers, counselors and others who work in the real estate industry.

NAR functions as a self regulatory agency, a lobbying organization, and as a provider of accreditation and certification of designations. Key information about NAR include the following:

Membership dues in 2020 are $150 (plus a $35 special assessment for the consumer advertising campaign). In 2017 (the year the most recent IRS Form 990 is available), the membership dues appear to have been $120 although there appears to also have been a $30 special assessment because in 2017, there were 1.3 members in the NAR.

NAR reported total revenue of $242 million in 2017, of which $202 million (83% of revenue) came from membership dues.

Expenses totaled $237 million with the largest expense being compensation ($60 million or 25% of total revenue) for the 355 employees who received an average compensation of $169,000. However, only 174 employees (about half the staff) received more than $100,000 with the 17 most highly compensated employees reported to be:

• $1,900,680:  Dale Stinton, CEO (retired)
• $1,205,373:  Bob Goldberg, CEO
• $  728,615:  Jerry Giovaniello, SVP Government Affairs
• $  625,920:  Walt Witek, SVP Community and Political Affairs
• $  602,542:  Lawrence Yun, SVP Chief Economist
• $  579,225:  Katie Johnson, SVP General Counsel
• $  566,358:  Mark Lesswing, SVP Chief Tech Officer
• $  518,074:  Janet Branton, SVP Global Services
• $  517,155:  John Pierpoint, SVP Finance and Comptroller
• $  380,724:  Matthew Lombardi, SVP Marketing and Business Development
• $  379,969:  Stephanie Singer, SVP Communications
• $  377,503:  Donna Gland, SVP Human Resources
• $  232,918:  Bill E Brown, NAR President
• $  221,606:  Elizabeth Jane Mendenhall, President-Elect
• $  205,155:  Thomas A Riley, NAR Treasurer
• $  204,444:  Doug Hinderer, SVP Human Resources (former)
• $  150,072:  Thomas F Salomone, Immediate Past President

The 17 most highly compensated employees received $9.3 million or an average compensation of $550,000.  If the most highly compensated employees were excluded from the total amount of compensation paid, then 338 employees were compensated about $51 million, which equates to an average compensation of $151,000.

12 of the 17 (71%) most highly compensated employees are male while 5, or 29%, are female.  8 out of the 10 most highly compensated employees are male while 2 are female.

NAR paid for first class travel, travel for companions, health or social club dues or initiation fees, and personal services (i.e. The CEO’s personal tax return along with tax or legal services for for certain SVP’s of the organization, and reimbursing the President for housing related costs while traveling for company business). In addition, NAR provided tax indemnification and gross up payments. For more information on these expenses, see Schedule J, Part III, Supplemental Information of the IRS Form 990 (link below).

To read the IRS Form 990 (2017), click here.