Gary Simonsen

After a six-month review of potential candidates, CREA announced that Gary Simonsen will become its next CEO when Pierre Beauchamp retires next spring. Well-known within organized real estate in Canada, Simonsen has been CREA’s chief operating officer since 2008, having previously served for a decade as associate executive officer.

Simonsen has been involved with organized real estate since 1984 and in the 1990s served as EO of the Winnipeg Real Estate Board for six years. Winnipeg Realtor Lorne Weiss, president-elect of the Manitoba Real Estate Association, praised CREA’s choice of Simonsen as its next association leader.

“When Gary was EO of the Winnipeg board, he challenged me to become involved with organized real estate,” says Weiss. “I’m very pleased to see Gary take on the role of CREA’s next CEO. I believe he’ll have a very broad range of support of EOs right across the country.”

Simonsen will be stepping into some very large shoes. Beauchamp has been head of CREA for almost three decades; CREA president Georges Pahud refers to Beauchamp as “a legend. His dedication, his work ethic – the guy blows me away. There’s no question that he will be missed at CREA.”

Pahud sat on the executive committee mandated to find the association’s next CEO.

“We were trying very hard, when we were doing the succession planning, to make sure that we were not looking for a replacement for Pierre; we were looking for a successor, as Pierre is a one-off,” says Pahud.

“I think we’ve found, in Gary Simonsen, someone who has the institutional memory because he’s been at CREA for a number of years. He’s very experienced,” Pahud adds. “I think he’s the right person for the time. We’re absolutely delighted to have him as our next CEO.  I think our members will be exceptionally well served by Gary.”