Real Estate & Construction March 11, 2020 8:05:47 pm

IRES CEO signs on for 2 more years to participate in successor search

Lauren Hansen, CEO of IRES LLC, left, goes over a “life of a listing” flow chart while employees Julie Dahl, middle, and Melanie Neal look on during a recent impromptu meeting at Hansen’s Loveland-based office. Joel Blocker / For BizWest

By Lucas High

LOVELAND — Information and Real Estate Services LLC CEO Lauren Hansen recently inked a new two-year contract that will keep her in the leadership position as the Loveland-based multiple listing service searches for her successor.

Hansen has led the MLS, which operates in Northern Colorado and the Boulder Valley, since it was formed in 1996.

“As we all know, especially as we get older, that a year goes by so quickly. Two years gives us a little more breathing room” for the IRES board of directors to identify and recruit a new CEO, Hansen told BizWest.

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While the new contract is valid until 2022, the successor search process may not take quite that long, she said. “If we magically get a replacement in nine months, would I step aside then? I certainly would.”

REcolorado, the MLS in the Denver area that has a data-sharing partnership with IRES, has established a 90-day timeframe to find a new CEO to replace Kirby Slunaker, who resigned in January, Hansen said.

IRES will likely take slightly longer to find a new leader, she said. “But I’m connected enough within the industry that anyone who may be potentially interested would probably reach out to me.”

Hansen said she and the board will be keeping a close eye out for real estate professionals with proven track records with MLSs. “Someone who has demonstrated collaboration abilities between parties is critical.”

IRES has successfully collaborated on data-sharing deals in the last year-plus with REColorado and Pikes Peak Realtor Services Corp, a multiple-listing service in El Paso and Teller counties. Another collaborative effort — a merger with REColorado — proved more difficult to complete and was abandoned in 2018.

When Hansen reflects on her roughly 40-year real estate career, a highlight is IRES’ development of its homegrown listing database in 2001, which involved the transfer of thousands of analog listing books onto a digital platform.

“That was one of the most demanding projects I’ve been a part of. It was one of those situations where ignorance is bliss — we really didn’t know what we were getting into,” she said. “Fortunately, we were able to pull it off and our system has evolved ever since.”