The National Association of Realtors (NAR) announced the departure of Katherine “Katie” Johnson as chief legal officer and chief member experience officer.
The daughter of two realtors, Johnson joined NAR in October 2007 as an associate counsel and was promoted to general counsel and senior vice president in February 2014. She was named chief member experience officer in July 2018 and chief legal officer in March 2023. As chief legal officer, Johnson was often front and center in explaining how NAR was handling the multiple lawsuits it faced.
Johnson received her undergraduate degree from the University of Cincinnati, Master of Law from the University of Illinois Chicago School of Law, and Juris Doctorate from Cardozo School of Law. Last year, she was named a fellow by the American Bar Association.
NAR did not state if Johnson was leaving for another opportunity. In a statement to Weekly Real Estate News, a NAR spokesperson said,” “Katie Johnson is stepping down as chief legal officer and chief member experience officer after 17 years of dedicated service to NAR. Having joined NAR in 2007, Katie has spent the bulk of her career committed to fulfilling NAR’s mission to make homeownership a reality for all Americans. We are grateful for her service. As we make this transition, our priority is ensuring business continuity and remaining laser focused on shepherding NAR through this time of significant industry change.”
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She did such a great job on a lawsuit she should have won.
Incompetent Lazy Idiot.She screwed hundred of thousands of Realtors by bending over and accepting those scam lawsuits and throwing ALL OF US under the bus. Hard enough to sell homes, and now unless you have the listing we have to convince Buyers, some that we met recently, to sign ridiculous showing and commission agreements!!
Imagine just telling a new prospective buyer to sign a document stating if he or she buys that particular property, that THEY, the buyer, has to pay our Commission.
OUR COMMISSION!! I wish that Jerk gets disbarred and loses her house to Foreclosure. THIEF!!!
bye -bye….. don’t get ran over by the bus you pushed all the nar members in front of. no thank you for your service… it was worthless
I can understand why she is either running from the job or has been run out of the job, if she is the person giving advice to the NAR as to caving on those idiotic lawsuits.
She hastened the demise of Realtor respect for the NAR.
I wonder if her exit has to do with the dei hire of the new ceo of nar, who has zero experience on her resume in real estate who also pushed for the settlement.
She should have resigned long ago. Too late for those of us she threw under the bus!
She’s a worthless asshole! She got hers F everyone else! She deserves every bit of misery in life!
She was in way over her head!
She will probably go work for the DOJ
Craig, don’t be an idiot.
Either you resign or we’ll fire you. Your choice.
If she was at helm during the lawsuit, its better that she leave. This could have been resolved in a much better logical way.
Good good riddance, after destroying the profession that she was supposed to see over! She didn’t allow any of the members to confer, voice or vote on the crap settlement that has hurt all Buyers and Realtors! I’m sure she’ll take her millions and run!!!
NAR is about to become irrelevant anyway with the REALTORS they have swindled for years.
Go look at the money these people are making and the steady flow of cash that comes in from our fees. Then look at what they have done for us over the years, and especially with the commission lawsuits, which are far from over. They are going to bleed us dry. We need an alternative to the NAR and we need it now. We pay into the association and they run it into the ground…then walk away.
This is a lot like government. When someone screws up there are never any repercussions. When crap catches up with you, out the door. Bob Goldberg was making almost $2.6 million. Nykia Wright is now “permanent” CEO, with no real estate experience. She worked for the Chicago Sun Times. Do they ever print newspapers any more?Again I compare NAR leadership to our government leadership. Out of touch. Overpaid. Helping themselves first, members last.
Well Mike, you’re totally right about the “moneyed elite” of the NAR, but totally inappropriate, really stretching, in your comments about “the government”.
I am so disappointed in our NAR legal staff for letting the situation get out of hand. The whole premise was based on “fake news” that the seller was paying for things they were not aware of. Our local association attorney would have done better. Once again, the misguided actions of a very few has resulted in major shift in how we do business and has actually resulted in less transparency for our clients.
Been in the Business for 45 + years. Any potential buyer that I have spoken to has refused to sign the ridiculous 8 page “Exclusive Buyer-Broker” document when presented to them. Now that the the Seller is longer required to pay the selling broker that has spent months working with a buyer WE WON’T GET PAID. Talked to at least 15 other long term Brokers that I know, SAME SITUATION. Now the Sellers are getting solicited by “discount brokers” that are offering 1% or less than that in flat fees. The Realtor’s Associations have shot them selves in the foot and will lose members in droves. This “Attorney” that just quit has ruined the industry, along with the overpaid “Officers” who will soon be out of a job!
Been in the Business for over 45 years. Any potential buyer that I have spoken to has refused to sign the ridiculous 8 page “Exclusive Buyer-Broker” document when presented to them. Now that the the Seller is no longer required to pay the selling broker (that has spent months working with a buyer) WE WON’T GET PAID. Talked to at least 15 other long term Brokers that I know, SAME SITUATION. Now the Sellers are getting solicited by “discount brokers” that are offering 1% or less than that in flat fees. The Realtor’s Associations have shot themselves in the foot and will lose members in droves. This “Attorney” that just quit has ruined the industry, along with the overpaid “Officers” who will soon be out of a job!
NAR and CAR have crumbled under the pressures exerted by who knows
All I can say is after almost 40 yrs these two organizations are not serving the needs of either Realtors Nor the rights of private property ownership. Look. If we don’t have an organization which believes in the right of individuals to own private property, we won’t have jobs. Listen to the media and they are chiming in about how young people should rent. Hummm wonder which socialist playbook they got that from.
We need to wake up. NAR and CAR have sold us out. We have to pay to be relevant and they put the screws to us with our own hard earned dollars.
I concur that we need a new type association for our membership and it needs to be built from the group up asap.
The NAR is out for itself! The irreparable harm it has done to us is criminal! We need a new agent based group and soon. What benefit has the NAR provided over the last forty years? Especially the last ten to fifteen. They sold us down the river!