Building on its reputation as one of the nation’s leading franchise groups, Harcourts Australia has just announced the appointment of Lisa Pennell to the newly created role of chief operations officer.
Harcourts Group Australia CEO Marcus Williams was full of praise for Ms Pennell, saying the group had engaged the highly-regarded industry expert as a consultant on some important strategic projects late last year.
“It is a real coup to add her enviable track record of success and impressive mix of skills to the role, including strategy, negotiation, crisis management, leadership and marketing,” Mr Williams said.
“I am thrilled to say she will be a great asset to our team.”
Over the past two decades, Harcourts Group Australia has grown rapidly to achieve its position as the third-largest real estate franchise group in the nation.
“Regardless of whatever headwinds come our way, we have continued to take market share year-on-year,” Mr Williams said.
The brand recently experienced its most successful year in business.
Harcourts recalibrated its market approach in 2020 and took the opportunity to fine-tune the suite of resources the group provides to members of its franchise network.
“We dedicated resources to our long-standing commitment to industry-leading innovation and best of breed technologies,” Mr Williams said.
He pointed to the group’s recent ‘You/Our’ lead generation campaign for prospecting and recruitment and the Harcourts360 business intelligence dashboard as recent examples of such innovation.
“Lisa’s appointment as COO is the next step in our aim to be number one in Australia,” Mr Williams said.
“We have a serious growth strategy in place for Australia and have no doubt Lisa will be a crucial part of our success going forward as we strive to match the dominant market position we already hold in New Zealand.”
Ms Pennell’s appointment follows recent auditions to the leadership team, including naming Christian Hamilton to Head of Auctions – Australia, and Karmen Costigan to Head of Property Management – Australia, both newly created strategic roles.
Ms Pennell has more than 20 years’ of industry experience, including her most recent corporate role as head of marketing at Ray White.
She said she had no hesitation in backing the group’s lofty ambitions and having worked closely with Harcourts through her consulting business.
“Harcourts is a great brand that’s really on the move and I fully expect the goals in place to be realised over the coming years,” Ms Pennell said.
“The biggest risk to any business in the current landscape is to have a brand gap, where the business capability does not match the customer promise or expectation.”
Ms Pennell said experiencing market success could often lead to complacency within an industry, listing Holden, Nokia and Kodak as examples.
But she was quick to add that her recent experience working with the group had allayed any fears of that happening at Harcourts Australia.
“Having worked with Harcourts Australia as well as the international team first-hand as a consultant, I have no hesitation in backing the group’s ambitions by taking on the challenge of the COO role in Australia.
“I’m looking forward to working closely with Marcus, as well as the rest of the 120-member corporate team and 400-plus office network in Australia.”
Ms Pennell will start in the new role on May 3.
