Canopy names new CEO; Bright adds growth leader

Editor’s note: As an industry with millions of agents and over 100,000 brokerage companies, new leaders rise to the top every day. Here we highlight executives and other notable leaders who’ve recently taken on, or stepped away from, roles that influence the residential real estate landscape.

30-year Canopy exec to move into CEO role

North Carolina’s Canopy MLS has selected Steve Byrd to helm the organization as longtime CEO Anne Marie DeCatsye moves toward retirement at the end of the year.

Byrd has been with Canopy, a large regional player with more than 22,000 subscribers, for nearly 30 years. He currently serves as vice president and chief technology officer but will move into the CEO role on Aug. 1, according to a news release. He has also served on a number of national real estate boards and advisory groups, the organization noted. 

DeCatsye said she has “enormous confidence in Steve’s leadership and the strategic, collaborative relationships he’s built with our technology vendors and partners” as she prepares to hand over the reins.

As CTO, Byrd has been responsible for the organization’s “uninterrupted operation and continued advancement,” Canopy said, adding that in his new role, he will be a major driver of Canopy’s recent initiatives “designed to provide greater flexibility and efficiency for real estate brokers.” 

Those include expanded capabilities that allow brokerages to submit listings through approved third-party or proprietary systems — a move revealed in early June when Canopy announced it was opening its services to agents nationwide — and the addition of two new listing options introduced last fall.

Byrd will also maintain Canopy’s participation in the Southeast MLS Alliance, a multi-state data-sharing arrangement formed in 2023. 

In conjunction with the CEO transition, Canopy is separating the leadership of its Realtor association and MLS. Byrd will lead the multiple listing service but report to DeCatsye — currently CEO of both the association and MLS — until her departure. Meanwhile, the association has begun a national search for a dedicated CEO. 

Bright hires growth leader to help expand market presence

Bright MLS has appointed Steve Mapes to the newly formed role of executive vice president of growth and strategy, the organization announced this week. 

Mapes joins the country’s largest multiple listing service from another large MLS, Georgia-based First MLS, where he served as chief revenue officer. He also has a strong technical background owing to his time at Lone Wolf, where he was involved in software and transaction management for more than 10 years, according to a news release. 

As Bright’s growth and strategy EVP, Mapes will oversee initiatives intended to expand the MLS’s reach and identify new growth opportunities, the company said. “As technology reshapes how consumers search for homes and how professionals serve their clients,” Mapes’ “experience building organizations, opening new opportunities and leading through change will be instrumental as we continue expanding Bright’s reach and influence” Bright MLS President and CEO Brian Donnellan said.

In taking on the new role, Mapes said he’s looking forward to leading Bright’s “next chapter.”

“The company has built an extraordinary foundation,” he said, “and I see tremendous opportunity to expand its influence and create even greater value for brokers, subscribers and shareholders.”