Erik Bahr, the tall, dashing, and dynamic Regional President of the Compass North Texas office is leaving his post this month to “embark on the next chapter of his professional career.”
Pulling back to my notes taken when he first came on board 14 months ago, Erik, who actually went to TCU, came to Compass from Facebook and brought a new dimension to agent leadership with his internet-savvy, tech-enabled approach to marketing and innovating the Compass brand.
“I’m new to real estate,” he told me at the time, “I’m learning from our fantastic agents.”
He learned lickety-split: Under Erik’s leadership, Compass expanded its customer base (meaning agents) from 235 to more than 1,200.
And agents learned from him how best to integrate real estate marketing into a Facebook-friendly, social media-savvy world where print media is dying a slow-bleed death. Many Compass agents are disappointed to see him go.
“He was a very strong figure in the office, a great leader” one agent told me. “He is going to be a hard act to follow. But Compass will find someone, they always do.”
He is leaving to join a cannot-ignore opportunity in the fintech (financial technology) space.
Apparently a “dream opportunity” came up that Erik could not turn down, which is no surprise given his background.
“The entrepreneurial spirit of Compass has inspired him to join together with some Dallas-based friends to start a new vertical of their business in the fintech space,” said Haley Bookout, Compass Public Relations. “He’ll still be around until the end of the month and I’ll be sure to keep you in-the-know as soon as we fill the position.”
Here is the release from Compass:
Texas Regional President Erik Bahr has decided to embark on the next chapter of his professional career. We have been incredibly lucky to have him as a member of our Compass family as he was instrumental in establishing and nurturing the culture of collaboration that exists in the Texas region today. Under his leadership, Compass’s presence in Texas has grown tremendously – our customer base expanded from 235 to over 1,200 across the state. We are currently working to find a qualified leader to step into the Texas leadership role – in the interim Peter Jonas, Compass’ West Regional President, will be working with the operational leaders in each market to ensure a smooth transition. We wish our friend Erik every success with his future endeavors.
