Scott Durkin

As Douglas Elliman’s president and chief operating officer, Scott Durkin has been an industry leader for nearly three decades and is a driving force behind the brokerage’s ranking as one of the largest independent residential real estate firms by sales volume in the U.S. He oversees the company’s national expansion efforts, as well as marketing, recruitment and technology ventures.

In 2019, Durkin played an instrumental role in the brokerage’s strategic expansion into Texas and Florida’s west coast. In keeping with Douglas Elliman’s commitment to be a leading technology-driven brokerage, the company recently launched Elliman Studio, a customer relationship management tool and marketing and business management platform. The brokerage, which has a global alliance with London-based Knight Frank Residential, also hosted several events throughout the year to bring together agents from both firms and to learn about different markets around the world.

“I often say that we are not in the real estate business, and that we are in the relationship business. You cannot do real estate without a solid network of people who know you and trust you–that is the baseline of our business,” says Durkin. “Technology allows us to tap into an even greater network of potential customers and clients, communicate more efficiently and provide better data to better educate and advise clients as it pertains to any real estate transaction. But, ultimately, you need both the strong human touch and advanced technology to drive it in order to be successful in the 21st-century real estate arena.”