In a time when words like “family values” seem to have lost some of their luster, they are alive and well and at the core of success for Gibson Sotheby’s International Realty, one of the largest and most respected companies in the Eastern Massachusetts marketplace.
Founded 60 years ago by pioneering REALTOR® Betty Gibson in Boston’s South End, which is still home to the firm’s flagship office, the company was purchased by long-time friends Larry Rideout and Paul McGann in November 2006 and became part of the Sotheby’s International Realty franchise a month later.
“For us, it was a dream fulfilled,” says Co-Owner and company President McGann, who, 30 years ago, was recruited into the real estate industry right out of college as part of Rideout’s reach-out to college seniors. “Larry and I hit it off right from the beginning, and we worked together over the years to build successful real estate companies for other people. Finally, we believed it was time for us to build the company we wanted to build.”
The company they wanted to build was one rooted firmly in mentorship and family values.
“Family is everything to us,” says Co-Owner and company Chairman Rideout, who, like McGann, comes from a large, nurturing family. “Paul and I know that if we treat our agents like family—if we support and encourage them in their journey to success—then they will care for their clients the same way.”
A ‘microcosm of caring’
Today, Gibson Sotheby’s International Realty is the largest individually owned real estate brokerage in Massachusetts and a preeminent provider of luxury properties across the eastern part of the state, with a sales volume last year of $4.2 billion and a team of 450 sales associates in 25 offices throughout Greater Boston, the Metro West, the North Shore, the South Shore and Cape Cod.
That growth, however, was not without setbacks.
“We had no way to know that two years after we took ownership, we’d be in the midst of a crippling downturn,” says Rideout. “We had no reserves in 2008. We had just bought the company, and we were broke. But we rolled up our sleeves and got to work, and I’m proud to say we never lost an agent during the worst of it.”
That’s because, maintains McGann, of the company culture he and Rideout had worked so hard to establish.
“We don’t judge our success by rankings and sales volume,” he says, “but on the happiness, satisfaction and productivity of our agents.”
This ethos permeates every one of their offices, says veteran agent and team leader Lauren Holleran.
“In other firms I had worked in, competition was foremost,” explains Holleran, who joined Gibson Sotheby’s International Realty’s Cambridge office in 2015, and today leads a productive team of four. “There was always a culture of, ‘good fences make good neighbors.’ But Larry and Paul are so warm and loving that you feel you are part of their family. There’s this microcosm of caring that makes you want to get out there and treat every client as though they are the only one that matters.”
Female leaders at the forefront
Company leadership is distinctly woman-forward, notes Rideout. Apart from him and McGann, Chief Brokerage Officer Jeffrey Tarczali, General Counsel Richard Sullivan and Director of Selection and Development Mario Lampedecchio, a majority of the firm’s top executives are women, led by Chief Executive Officer Colleen Barry and Chief Strategy Officer Nicole Rideout Hartwick.
Marketing is overseen by Mary Kate Leonard, Operations by Michelle Pelletier, and Relocation and Referral Services by Aimee Rideout. Other female executive hires this year, including Daphna Fields, vice president of Brokerage Development, Jo-Ellen Erickson, regional director of Cape Cod, and Brianne Alston, chief financial officer, were selected, Barry says, because of what they could contribute to a leadership team that is focused on helping every agent achieve their goals.
All are firm believers in the firm’s collaborative mantra.
“Everyone talks about culture,” says Barry, “but we live it every day. It starts at the top with an open-door policy that promotes collaboration. Every agent, for example, faces many of the same issues, but competition can stand in the way of finding the best answers. We’ve developed a platform for putting agents together so that they can look at different angles of a problem and work as a team to come up with the best solutions.”
At the same time, adds Barry, company leaders recognize and value talent.
“We love nothing more than helping talented people succeed and move up,” she says. “There is room at the table for everyone. Different voices and backgrounds add to the collaboration and make us that much stronger.”
Nicole Rideout Hartwick, Rideout’s daughter, began her career with the company by answering office phones on weekends while in college. After a year spent doing policy work in the nation’s capital, she rejoined the company to refine the administrative staff and build out the relocation department, then rose to the role of vice president of Business Development, where she focused on scaling the company, primarily via mergers and acquisitions.
She sees her role today as growing the value of the brand—and like Barry, she makes the culture of family values and supporting fellow women in business a priority.
“Caring is contagious,” she says. “As a new mother, I know that challenges can be overcome—that people want to help when you ask for it. Relationships are at the very heart of our business. They always have been, and they always will be.”
“It’s all about networking, sharing ideas, caring for and supporting one another,” says Barry. “That’s what drives business and burnishes the value of our brand.”
Built for growth—in any market
It is a brand that has tripled its size over the past four years, says McGann, primarily through acquisition, increasing from eight offices to 25, including through the pandemic years.
“The onset of the pandemic caused a lot of introspection for many people,” he says. “Even for us, the instinct at the beginning was to do the turtle thing and pull in our heads. But as we had learned from our experience in 2008, we had to be able to pivot in order to survive.”
Their agents stayed in close contact with clients past and present, he says, doing grocery shopping for those who needed it, dropping flowers on doorsteps—doing anything they could to help keep spirits up.
“Our agents knew these people, knew their families,” says Rideout Hartwick. “Even as we were spending more time at home with our own families, our agents were empathetic to the needs of their client families.”
At the same time, says Barry, the company brought in the services of a licensed therapist to help manage stress among agents and employees. In-house sessions provided virtual mindfulness training and guidance for working through the transitional period.
“But sometimes change is good,” says McGann. “We learned how to show homes under strict protocols, and we became experts in the practice of virtual real estate. We learned so fast it was almost as though we knew what we were doing—and in the end, it prepared us to manage the amazing upsurge that followed.”
The result made 2021 a record-breaking year for the company.
“In some ways,” says Rideout Hartwick, “COVID showed us where the North Star is for us. We embrace hiring the right people and having the right tools, and that includes the best technology, but never one over the other.”
Agents: the engine that drives the company
Strategic recruitment is central to Gibson Sotheby’s International Realty’s philosophy, Barry says. Agents coming into the company are nearly always seasoned professionals seeking that extra, intangible boost that will propel them to the next level.
Agents agree.
“I was aware of the company’s reputation as a caring organization committed to the success of its agents,” says 18-year real estate veteran Rebecca Davis Tulman, who joined the company in November 2020. “But I was totally unprepared for the loving environment and the level of service and attention that I experienced from day one. Larry and Paul just know how to do things right.”
Recruiting the right people is intuitive, says Barry.
“We look for career people who are totally committed to the next level of their success,” she says. “We ask ourselves: Do we think we can help them? Can they help us? Do we think we can work well together?”
It’s a high threshold, notes McGann.
“Most of the agents who join us already have a portfolio of business. They are competitive but collaborative, and eager to work in our family-first environment,” he says. “New agents typically come to us by referral only, and they have to be open to learning and growing through mentorship and matchmaking.”
The path in for many agents is through the company’s vast rental division or teaming.
“But the recruits who join us can instantly reap the benefits of everything our brokerage offers,” says Barry. “That includes not just training and business development, but also the ease of marketing services.”
That, in fact, was one of the things that convinced Tulman she had made the right decision in coming aboard.
“Just after I started, I got my first listing under the new name,” she says. “I felt it was urgent for me to get brochures right away, but I figured the request would just take its place in the marketing queue. To my amazement, I got a call the very next day to come and pick up the brochures—and there they were, neatly stacked and ready. I was stunned.”
Rideout Hartwick is not surprised.
“It’s just the way we operate,” she says. “Whether it’s new brochures or new technology, or help solving a thorny issue, we are here to provide whatever our agents need. Our mission is to partner with them so that they can become the best they can be.”
That philosophy, says Barry, is the engine that drives the company. “We succeed,” she says, “because we remove obstacles and build value for our agents and our clients.”
Paving the way for a ‘limitless future’
At the same time, leadership is focused on measured growth.
“Our plan is to continue growing through strategic acquisition,” says Rideout Hartwick. “We have a long and storied legacy we treasure, but we also have a clear vision for the future. Our overall plan is to marry our legacy with a continuing desire to evolve.”
It’s the vision her father had 40 years ago when he quit loading trucks at a gypsum factory to follow his grandfather into real estate.
“I got a bit of a late start, but once I began, it was as though I found an industry that had been made just for me, and I have never looked back,” Rideout says. “I could see a limitless future then, and I still see it today.”
He is gratified, he says, by the everyday warmth and family spirit that drives the company’s success.
“When I say I love every one of our people, I mean it,” he says. “I am so glad to come to work every day.”
For more information, visit gibsonsothebysrealty.com. The Gibson Sotheby’s International Realty team was photographed at The St. Regis Residences, Boston Experience Center. Gibson Sotheby’s International Realty is the exclusive listing agency of the 114 luxury residences, opening in 2022 in Boston’s vibrant Seaport district.
Barbara Pronin is an award-winning writer based in Orange County, Calif. A former news editor with more than 30 years of experience in journalism and corporate communications, she has specialized in real estate topics for over a decade.
