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A marketing expert who has served stints at New York City-headquartered Compass real estate and money transfer company XE has been lured back to Australia by a megabrand.
LJ Hooker Group has appointed James Boulton to the new role of head of marketing for its house of brands, which include the LJ Hooker network and Atlas.
LJ Hooker chief performance officer Christine Mikhael said the company had conducted an international search to find the right person for the position.
“I’m thrilled we have been able to attract a person of James’ calibre to lead marketing across the LJ Hooker Group,” Ms Mikhael said.
“James is creatively driven, results-focused, and customer-obsessed, having led marketing and communication teams at several world-leading companies including tech-focused real estate group, Compass, and global money transfer business, XE,” she added.
Prior to his time working in the US, where he held a role as regional director at Compass and more recently as the global head of brand and communications at XE, Mr Boulton served as marketing manager for McGrath Limited.
Mr Boulton, who commenced his new role with LJ Hooker on Tuesday, 1 February, said his immediate focus would be on articulating the LJ Hooker Group’s vision for its brands so that teams can cater to the needs of the market in which they operate.
“It’s a clear point of difference for the LJ Hooker Group in having a multi-brand business model so they can better serve their real estate agents,” he said.
After a year of rapid expansion, having opened 13 LJ Hooker offices in new markets around Australia and two new Atlas offices in Sydney, the brand was looking for someone who had experience in a company prepared to scale quickly.
“James played a key role in the attraction of top agent teams to support Compass’ rapid expansion across the United States, and his development of marketing onboarding operations and integration processes led to a talent retention rate of 99.7 per cent,” Ms Mikhael noted.
“Most recently, James led the global repositioning of international money transfer and solutions provider XE, as it expanded its services to more than 40 new countries.”
Mr Boulton added that he felt it was an exciting time to be joining the network as it approached 100 years of operation.
“I’m looking forward to leading the LJ Hooker brand into a new era as it nears its centenary in 2028,” he said.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Juliet Helmke
Based in Sydney, Juliet Helmke has a broad range of reporting and editorial experience across the areas of business, technology, entertainment and the arts. She was formerly Senior Editor at The New York Observer.
