Midwest Real Estate Data Chief Operating Officer Jeff Lasky will be taking over as CEO of the North Shore-Barrington Association of Realtors next month. The position was left vacant after their former leader, Steve Volkodav, took a position as CEO of the Pikes Peak Association of Realtors in Colorado. 

The news was announced at the association’s 2020 Vision event yesterday, where Lasky told members he’s looking forward to focusing on the challenges posed to organized real estate in Chicagoland. “I wouldn’t be here if your leadership and I didn’t speak the same language when it comes to the big rocks for this association,” he said. “We can play a critical role in improving business done and money made by our members too, and that’s important. I’m taking charge of these efforts and I’m ready to go.”

Lasky has been in the multiple listing system world for many years, having come to MRED from one of the organizations that merged to create the company in its foundational 2008 merger. In an interview with Chicago Agent, Lasky said he plans to use his deep ties in this industry to work more closely with MRED and other industry organizations. “I think a lot of the associations over the years have done this because they have been encouraged to create their own value proposition,” he said. “But why not affiliate and associate ourselves with other successful [industry players]?”

In yesterday’s speech, Lasky thanked Volkodav for leaving him “a terrific association that is positioned to achieve spectacular things. This is not a repair or reclamation project.”

Some close readers of NSBAR’s CEO job posting had raised questions about a line that read, “The CEO shall not knowingly take a position contrary to a position of the Board of Directors.” But Lasky said that was likely just boilerplate language, and that those who saw the post as an indication of an attempt to rein the position in may have been reading too much into it. “There’s absolutely no — zero — indication of any tension at all that was happening with Steve,” he said. “These guys have been very, very clear to me … there’s no interest in me doing anything other than being the CEO and leading this organization.”

Lasky’s first official day with the association will be March 12. MRED has not indicated who will become the next COO of the MLS.