After a nearly two-year search, RE/MAX Holdings, the parent company of brokerage firm RE/MAX, has found its new CEO. The board of directors has appointed Erik Carlson to CEO, effectively immediately, according to an announcement on Monday.

Carlson has most recently served as president and CEO of DISH Network Corporation, where he has worked since 1995.

“Erik is the ideal executive to take over as the new RE/MAX Holdings CEO, having excelled in various operational, customer-centric and sales roles at DISH,” Dave Liniger, the co-founder of RE/MAX and current chairman of the board, said in a statement. “He is a strong, well-rounded leader with decades-long experience overseeing large businesses and managing high-performance teams in a disruptive industry, with a self-described ‘obsessive focus on the customer,’ all of which makes him uniquely qualified to lead RE/MAX Holdings through its next phase of growth.” 

With Carlson’s appointment, interim CEO Stephen Joyce is stepping down, however he will remain on the company’s board of directors. Joyce was named interim CEO in January 2022, after former CEO Adam Contos announced that he would be leaving RE/MAX in March 2022.

Prior to becoming the president of DISH in 2017, Carlson held several leadership roles at the firm, including president and chief operating officer. Earlier in his career. Carlson led DISH’s indirect sales operations.

“I am excited to start this next chapter in my career as CEO of RE/MAX Holdings, and I am honored to be part of the all-time global leader in its industry, a company whose entrepreneurial spirit I have long admired,” Carlson said a statement. “I look forward to joining the RE/MAX Holdings team and applying my operational expertise as well as my experience working with local businesses and serving local communities to further extend the Company’s success.” 

Carlson is taking the helm at RE/MAX during a challenging period in the real estate industry, as RE/MAX, the National Association of Realtors and countless other brokerages are facing multiple lawsuits alleging that industry players have colluded to artificially inflate real estate agent commissions. While RE/MAX has reached a settlement agreement for the Sitzer/Burnett, Moehrl and Nosalek lawsuits, the settlement has yet to be approved. The preliminary hearing for the settlement in the Sitzer/Burnett suit in Missouri has been set for November 20.