Development of advisory board, staff will boost agency, Liebzeit says.
June 15, 2011
Ed Liebzeit, who worked at Proctor & Gamble and ran his own consulting company before moving to the area in 1997, was named leader of the valley real estate firm on June 6. Sotheby’s bills itself as having had more than 55 percent of market share in 2010.
Liebzeit will run the company in conjunction with Chief Executive Officer David Huntsman, a member of the Jon M. Huntsman family that bought Sotheby’s Jackson Hole and Sun Valley, Idaho, operations in May of 2010. Liebzeit, who lives in 3 Creek Ranch with wife Carole, plans to use an advisory board (see box) of company veterans and top performers to guide operations.
Under Liebzeit, experienced Sotheby’s staff will share their expertise throughout the firm.
“We have people who are truly experts in their fields,” Liebzeit said Monday. “We want those people engaged in the business, providing input, ideas and training to other members of our organization.”
New Vice President of Operations Lisa Delaney will continue her marketing responsibilities and also will oversee the firm’s technology and facilities, Liebzeit said. Sotheby’s veteran Donna Clinton, who served as president of the Teton Board of Realtors from 2001 to 2003 and was Realtor of the Year in 2002, will work as the responsible broker for the firm.
Sotheby’s now has 125 licensed agents and six offices, Liebzeit said. Eight employees handle business operations.
Clayton Andrews, who led the area Sotheby’s office as well as regional interests for seven years, will remain with the firm and serve on the advisory board.
Andrews worked on mergers and acquisitions that helped Sotheby’s expand into the Sun Valley and Santa Fe, N.M., markets. When the economy slowed, he turned to consolidations and staffing changes that ultimately decreased the number of employees by 50 percent at offices he oversaw.
“I’m going to take a little bit of a break from having a 24-7 job and enjoy a little more freedom and flexibility to go play some golf and do some fishing and sell some real estate,” Andrews said. “I wish Ed and Lisa well with regards to their new involvement in the company.”
Liebzeit spent six years at Real Estate of Jackson Hole before leaving the firm that eventually went bankrupt. He joined Sotheby’s in 2008.
He is the current Teton Board of Realtors Realtor of the Year and has led the sales effort for the Driggs, Idaho, Huntsman Springs golf course development.
The Huntsman family started selling property at the project last summer. After servicing debt and taking care of local communities’ needs, the family will use the remaining profits from Sotheby’s offices and the Idaho development to support the Huntsman Cancer Institute in Salt Lake City, Liebzeit said.
Liebzeit will continue to lead the sales effort at Huntsman Springs and hopes agents learn more about the project, which has won national awards. That said, the change in leadership at Sotheby’s will not result in agents being forced to sell the Driggs development.
“There will be no more pressure on our agents to do things at Huntsman Springs,” Liebzeit said. “That’s not the way the Huntsmans operate and not the way I operate.”
