Leading Western Australian agent Hayden Groves has been elected as the new Real Estate Institute of Australia (REIA) president.
The REIA board made the announcement today after electing Mr Groves to succeed Adrian Kelly, who served as president from 2018.
Mr Groves, who joined the REIA board in 2015, is the principal and director of Fremantle agency dethridgeGROVES.
“As someone with a long-standing commitment to furthering best practice and professionalism of real estate agents and agencies through the work of Real Estate Institutes, I am honoured to be appointed as president of the Real Estate Institute of Australia,” Mr Groves said.
“The people of Australian real estate must be at the heart of REIA’s strategy as trusted brokers of property transactions.
“Your local real estate agent deeply cares about their communities, values their own reputation and integrity and plays a vital role in securing the financial future of Australians.
“Successful agents rely on their community and customer connections to build their businesses and expand their professional standing across society.
“This will be all the more important as real estate markets respond to the next phase of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I look forward to working closely with all state and territory institutes, their members, the Federal Government, Opposition, other allied stakeholders and of course the REIA team in driving REIA into its next phase.”
Mr Groves was previously the REIA deputy president and chair of the REIA Finance, Audit and Risk Committee, and is the immediate past president of the Real Estate Institute of Western Australia (REIWA).
A licenced agent and auctioneer with a Bachelor of Politics (Hons) from Monash University, Mr Groves also led dethridgeGROVES to win the REIWA Large Agency of the Year 2020, Marketing and Communications Award 2020 and 2021; REIA Marketing and Communications Award 2021 and Rate My Agent Agency of the Year, Fremantle 2020 and 2021.
Mr Groves also welcomed the appointment of two real estate industry leaders as REIA office bearers.
“I am delighted to announce joining the REIA board leadership team is deputy president Leanne Pilkington, Chief Executive Officer of Laing+Simmons and chair of the Finance, Risk and Audit Committee Richard Simpson, a partner at W. B. Simpson & Son,” he said.
Mr Groves paid tribute to outgoing president Adrian Kelly following three highly successful and innovative years, which saw significant and productive change.
“I am deeply grateful for the contributions of Adrian over the past three years,” Mr Groves said.
“Few leaders of our industry have had the challenges Adrian has faced during his tenure as president.
“Adrian navigated a Federal Election where the potential loss of negative gearing threatened the fundamentals of Australia’s private property market, he coordinated the industry’s crisis response to the pandemic and led a strategic reset of REIA including the appointment of a new CEO and launching REIA’s Getting Real.”
At the REIA AGM, Mr Kelly was awarded REIA’s highest accolade of Diploma of Fellow as a result of his outstanding contribution to the real estate industry. Mr Kelly will remain on the REIA board.
The REIA will also gain new board member Damian Collins, who is the president of the REIWA, managing director of Momentum Wealth and chairman of Westbridge Funds Management.
