Joe Hanauer

Currently Principal of Combined Investments, L.P., a private investment firm, Joe Hanauer could be described as “negotiator par excellence” for the National Association of REALTORS®, and his role in REBAC’s acquisition bears this out.

As Web entrepreneurs began making plans to cut real estate professionals out of the transaction process, Mr. Hanauer began talking with real estate executives about the importance of having a unified Internet strategy. The result was that, in the same year as the REBAC acquisition, Mr. Hanauer became a driving force behind the creation of REALTOR.com.

 Subsequently, REALTOR.com formed an alliance with Homestore.com. The transaction included the assignment of Mr. Hanauer as a member of the Homestore Board of Directors. In January 2002, he assumed the position of Chairman of the Board to assist the company to overcome reported accounting irregularities. In early that year, the Homestore name was changed to Move.com. with Hanauer remaining as Chairman.

Service as a Board Chairman is nothing new to Mr. Hanauer. He formerly held such posts with both Coldwell Banker Real Estate and Grubb and Ellis, Inc. Currently, Mr. Hanauer also serves on the Board of Directors of MAF Bancorp, Inc., and as a trustee of each of Calamos Investment Trust, Calamos Advisors Trust and Calamos Convertible Opportunities and Income Fund. He was a member of the Executive Committee of the National Association of REALTORS® for many years as well as Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies Policy Advisory Board, where he is former Chairman; he also serves as a trustee of Roosevelt University.

Mr. Hanauer began his real estate career more than 30 years ago when he was associated with Thorsen, REALTORS®, at that time a leading residential brokerage firm in the western suburbs of Chicago. The company was sold to Coldwell Banker, a move that ultimately led to Hanauer’s assuming the chairmanship of Coldwell Banker.