Redfin, the Seattle-based real estate brokerage acquired last year by Rocket Companies, has named Alessio Sanfilippo as CEO.
Sanfilippo was previously Meta’s vice president of insights for Reality Labs, where he led teams working in data science, data engineering and user research to develop the company’s AI-enabled wearable glasses. He earlier served as a VP for Meta-owned WhatsApp overseeing data and user research.
Rocket, the nation’s largest mortgage lender, bought Redfin in a deal worth $1.75 billion. The Redfin brand kept its name and Seattle headquarters as a Rocket subsidiary. Redfin’s longtime CEO Glenn Kelman stepped down in January to join the venture firm Greylock as an executive in residence.
Rocket CEO Varun Krishna had been running Redfin since the exit of Kelman, who led the company for more than 20 years and was “one of the industry’s most charismatic and memorable figures,” Real Estate News noted.
In a release announcing Sanfilippo’s hiring, Krishna said that the company’s new leader has spent his career making “complex products work better for enormous audiences.”
“I worked with Alessio at Intuit and saw firsthand how he combines deep analytical thinking with a real instinct for the consumer,” Krishna added. Sanfilippo’s past roles include leadership positions at SAP, goSeek and Hotwire.
Sanfilippo said he has used Redfin for multiple home purchases, adding that the platform “has always helped make an intimidating process easier to understand.”
The company last week joined Zillow in settling an antitrust case with the Federal Trade Commission and five states, just as a trial was set to begin.
The proposed settlement includes an agreement to undo part of a $100 million partnership that the government said effectively paid Redfin to stop competing in apartment rental advertising. The company will now be required to relaunch its apartment advertising operation within six months.
