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Douglas Elliman’s Dottie Herman Steps Down as CEO of Brokerage

Douglas Elliman’s Dottie Herman Steps Down as CEO of Brokerage

Dottie Herman is stepping down as chief executive officer of New York-based brokerage Douglas Elliman Real Estate.

Scott Durkin, the firm’s president and chief operating officer, will be promoted to CEO, the company said in a statement Tuesday. Herman, who has led the brokerage since 2003, will become vice chair, a role that includes advising Chairman Howard Lorber and mentoring agents across the U.S.

Douglas Elliman’s Dottie Herman Steps Down as CEO of Brokerage

“Elliman is in excellent and very capable hands,” Herman said in the statement.

Herman, 68, sold her roughly 29% stake in Douglas Elliman for $40 million in 2018 to a subsidiary of Lorber’s Vector Group, which now owns 100% of the firm.

One of the New York region’s largest brokerages, Douglas Elliman has been expanding across the U.S., including in Florida. It currently has about 7,000 real estate agents.

Home prices are surging across the country, fueled by Americans hunting for larger properties. Douglas Elliman reported net income of $13.9 million in the first quarter, compared to a net loss of $69 million a year earlier.

Durkin, 59, began his real estate career as an agent with Corcoran Group in 1991. Working alongside founder Barbara Corcoran, he had a role in several of that firm’s milestones, including its sale to NRT and the acquisition of brokerages in the Hamptons, Palm Beach and New York.

Durkin joined Douglas Elliman in 2015. He was promoted to chief operating officer in October 2016 and named president the following year. Herman, the outgoing CEO, had a role in his hiring, he said.

“She said, ‘Someday you are going to run this company,’” Durkin said. “She said: ‘I need another me.’”

Durkin, an avid equestrian, and his husband split their time between homes in Manhattan, upstate New York and Wellington, Florida.

©2021 Bloomberg L.P.