Craig Cheatham

The Realty Alliance

Craig Cheatham is president and CEO of The Realty Alliance, an invitation-only network of some of the largest, full-service real estate firms in North America. Comprising nearly 70 residential real estate firms, which are home to more than 120,000 agents collectively, The Realty Alliance members also operate mortgage, insurance, title/settlement, concierge, commercial, property management and other related business lines. In his role, Cheatham is responsible for coordinating the network’s significant influence on industry policy in conjunction with major industry organizations. He leverages the group’s size and strength to negotiate favorable agreements with various providers on behalf of the organization, and coordinates benchmarking and networking programs for member-firm representatives.

Cheatham has also been a champion and serves as chairman of the Upstream board of managers. In 2020, the real estate data management solution announced specific plans for rolling out its first features in select markets in 2021. One feature that is poised to launch is the portion of the platform that allows brokers to centralize the management and distribution of their data to third-party providers. Upstream’s purpose remains to deliver greater efficiency and empowerment to brokers and agents, in addition to helping manage risk and improve the consumer experience.

Well known in real estate circles, Cheatham has built a strong reputation during his 29 years of experience, including as a leader for a state association of the National Association of REALTORS®, for the Association of Real Estate License Law Officials (ARELLO) and for The Realty Alliance. Cheatham represents The Realty Alliance on the board of the Real Estate Service Providers Council (RESPRO) and on the NAR Real Estate Services Advisory Board. He has served on the board of directors of the Real Estate Standards Organization (RESO) and the St. Louis-based multiple listing system MARIS.