Hodges Real Estate has announced the appointment of Tony Zarka as the group’s new CEO, who is set to commence in the role next month.
Hodges is the longest-running real estate agency in Victoria and since its humble beginnings more than 160 years ago it has grown to become one of the market leaders in selling and leasing properties throughout Melbourne and Geelong.
“I am humbled and excited to be appointed the CEO of the Hodges Group, I feel privileged to be part of an organisation, steeped with history and achievements that delivers high-quality real estate services,” Mr Zarka said.
“I look forward to connecting with the Hodges team and building on the brand’s success in the ever-changing landscape”.
Mr Zarka, who co-founded and operated the real estate owned utility connection business YourPorter and has previously worked for Direct Connect, told Elite Agent he saw the move as “a natural progression”.
“I’ve been working in utility connections in the real estate space for 15 years now, from a national business manager role at Direct Connect to the CEO role at YourPorter,” he said.
“I’m dealing with real estate agents and customers of real estate agencies day to day, so I’m very well versed with what the consumer wants and what the real estate agent wants so I feel it’s a comfortable progression for me.”
Mr Zarka said he viewed customers not as “clients for a moment in time” but people who could potentially be engaged with the business “forever”.
“I talk on a regular basis about moving from a transactional business to a relationship business.
“I think that’s one of the key things that I’ll be driving in Hodges’ business, that every person that we speak to should be a person that we try to connect to and we try to build a relationship with,” he said.
Hodges Director Andrew Boyce said he was enthusiastic about the direction Mr Zarka would take the Hodges Group in 2021, describing his appointment as “a win-win for all”.
“We are very excited about the future of the Hodges Group,” he said. “With Tony at the helm, the growth plans we will be putting in place for 2021 and beyond will ensure our franchisees continue to develop and grow under the Hodges banner.”
Mr Zarka said Mr Boyce was impressed with his past performance, especially his ability to take YourPorter from inception through to a saleable asset.
“That requires a whole bunch of resilience and tenacity and understanding of the customer,” Mr Zarka said. “Those things are really important and I would like to think that he saw that as someone he’d love to be working with.”
He also said he had met with Hodges’ directors and been impressed by their ongoing commitment and drive.
“They’re all really passionate about what they do and they still have a lot of energy around what they do,” he said.
“[Directors] Campbell and Michael Cooney have been in that business for something like 30 years and you can still see the passion in their eyes.”
The news of Mr Zarka’s appointment comes days after Elite Agent reported that Hodges’ former CEO, Carmel Kellett, has relocated to the Gold Coast to take up a role as national Franchising Director for end-to-end property business Coronis.
