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Executive Leadership

Ed Krafchow

Ed Krafchow, President and CEO

Ed Krafchow is President and CEO of Prudential CA/NV Realty. The company has seen remarkable growth since 1991 when he took over leadership. In 1991, the company’s 21 offices housed 565 agents and closed less than $1 billion in sales annually. Since then, the company has grown to over $3 billion in annual sales, with more than 1,900 agents and 36 offices. Krafchow has been closely involved in the development of the company’s proprietary WebTop Intranet, a technology platform that has generated leads and created efficient business processes for his sales associates. Krafchow has been named one of the real industry’s Most Influential People by Inman News. He is a frequent national speaker on several industry-related topics, and has been identified by the California Association of Realtors as one of California's top brokers and recognized as a technological leader by the Employee Relocation Council. He has consulted on a national as well as local level with multiple Multiple Listing Services (MLS) as well as strategic real estate planning groups. Krafchow earned his BA and MA from UCLA.

Darren Hall

Darren Hall, Managing Director, Operations
Vice President

Darren joined the firm in 1981 and has extensive knowledge in all areas of its operation. He began his career working in the areas of finance, accounting and technology. Darren currently focuses his time and energy in the areas of strategic planning, mergers and acquisitions, strategic alliances, affiliated business arrangements, vertical business planning, annual forecasting and budgeting. In addition, he has oversight for all company operations. Darren received a BS from Saint Mary’s College of California.

David Gardner

DAVID GARDNER, MANAGING DIRECTOR

David earned his real estate license in 1983, and acquired his broker’s license in 1987. In his early career, he worked for Century 21 and then Re/Max, both in the greater Los Angeles area. In 1996 he relocated to the East Bay and joined Re/Max Accord, launching his Northern California real estate career. In 2000, David saw the growth occurring in the tech industry and joined the start-up internet real estate company Zip Realty. He started as an agent/manager and was promoted through the ranks to Director of Market Expansion, followed by numerous District Director positions that encompassed various parts of the Bay Area. He was promoted to Area District Director in 2005 where he managed three District Directors, 130 agents and over $13 million of sales volume annually. In 2006, he joined Prudential as the Manager of the Walnut Creek office. David completed his BS from the USC School of Business.

Pat Shea

PAT SHEA, MANAGING DIRECTOR

Pat Shea started his career in 1989 by earning “Rookie of the Year” honors at TRI Realtors in Sacramento. Since that time he has been a consistent top achiever earning awards such as: “Outstanding Life Member” in the Sacramento Association of Realtors “Masters Club,” Coldwell Banker’s Presidents Elite and Prudential’s Chairman’s Circle Diamond. Pat moved into Leadership with Prudential California Realty in 2002 and swiftly moved the Elk Grove office into the company’s Top Five for units sold. Pat moved into a regional leadership role in 2007 and assisted his branches into a 50% increase in units sold for the calendar year 2008 despite the market challenges for the period. Pat trains extensively on listing and recruiting presentations. Pat is a graduate of John Carroll University in Cleveland, Ohio.

John Finnegan

JOHN FINNEGAN, MANAGING DIRECTOR

John Finnegan started his real estate career in 1976 in the Sunset district of San Francisco. In 1990, John became an independent broker until joining Mason McDuffie in 1993. Always innovative, in 1993 they expanded their vertical market by opening Bankers Preferred Real Estate Loans. Since then, Banker’s Preferred has funded $1 billion in loans. By 2005 he had grown the organization from a single office to four, and ranked in the top 225 companies in all the U.S. in the Real Trends 500. His passion is to help managers and agents grow and excel at what they do with principal based leadership, high skill development and care for serving buyers, borrowers and sellers. In April 2008, John formed NORCAL general partnership with Prudential California Realty-Mason McDuffie, allowing his company to grow in a down market on the peninsula and San Francisco with Mason McDuffie providing back end support with services, marketing and technology. John is skilled at building companies, offices and agents and understands how to run a company on a plan in the new challenging real estate markets.

Dave Wilson

Dave Wilson, Chief Information Officer

As CIO, David is responsible for the Information Technology operations of the company. David leads the team that is responsible for development of our internal technology applications, infrastructure and agent support organization. David has been in the technology sector for over 25 years with a proven track record of building strong technology and support organizations. Most recently, David was Vice President, Information Services of Westaff, Inc., an international, publicly held temporary staffing company. David managed all aspects of the company’s Information Technology applications, infrastructure and support organizations. Prior to his eight years at Westaff, David spent five years with Triad Systems Corporation, where he was responsible for Marketing and Financial Systems Operations.

Kathy Ollerton

KATHY OLLERTON, TRAINING DIRECTOR

Kathy Ollerton has been conducting seminars for organizations and individuals for the past 25 years. She is an expert communicator and works with individuals to cause personal and professional growth. Ms. Ollerton has worked extensively in the real estate industry with over 150,000 managers and agents, causing them to leave behind obsolete techniques and make powerful transitions into the Real Estate 2020 market. She has worked with corporations like Chevron, Clorox, I.B.M., and Marriott and was mentored by Buckminster Fuller. Kathy's life's work is "Vision Training" and her vision of working with World Leaders recently became a reality when she flew to Afghanistan to be at the opening ceremonies of a school she built in a little village there. She is currently building a medical center in that same village, the funds for which have been raised through the Non-Profit Organization she created called the "World Transformation Center."

Cathy Harrington

Cathy Harrington, VP, New Media and Agent Resources

Cathy oversees the development and execution of all internal and external marketing initiatives for real estate agents in California and Nevada. She is responsible for the integration of marketing and technology as well as for all aspects of new media, marketing, public relations and communication for the company. She was instrumental in developing the company’s website and a proprietary online Printshop for the company's agents. She has 20 years of proven real estate marketing and public relations experience. Prior to joining the company, she held marketing positions with HomeGain.com and Marcus & Millichap Real Estate Investment Brokerage Company. Cathy received a BA in English Literature from the UC Berkeley.

Linda Howard

LINDA HOWARD, SCRP, PRESIDENT OF NETWORK SERVICES

Linda is responsible for relocation, corporate services, affinity marketing, online lead generation, TradeMark License Network, and REOs. A licensed real estate broker for 29 years, Linda has earned the Senior Certified Relocation Professional designation with Worldwide Employees Relocation Council (ERC), has served on numerous committees for that organization and has been a featured speaker at many national relocation conferences. Linda currently serves on the WERC Board of Directors, the WERC Coalition Board and the WERC Foundation for Workforce Mobility Board of Trustees. Linda has served on the advisory council for Relocation Resources International and Lending Tree, and received performance awards for her role. Linda received the Relocation Director of the Year award from Prudential Real Estate and Relocation in 1996. Linda is a member of many Realtor Associations, the Bay Area Professionals in Relocation Management, Relocation Directors Council and is Past President of the Sacramento Regional Relocation Council. She has a degree from UC Davis.

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