Glenn Shimkus

As vice president of Strategy and Innovation for the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR), Glenn Shimkus identifies and evaluates emerging technologies that may impact the global residential and commercial real estate markets in order to educate the association’s members and leaders about them.

Since Shimkus took on the new role in early 2019, NAR has held its second iOi Summit, began publishing content from its Emerging Technology team, and initiated strategic discussions with two large technology companies about a possible new member benefit, which has yet to be formally announced as of press time.

“Having spent my entire career in technology and many of those as an innovator and entrepreneur, I am thrilled to be able to combine my passion for technology and innovation with my love of the real estate industry to be able to help the millions of individuals, who themselves are entrepreneurs, help people achieve the American dream of owning a home!” says Shimkus.

Earlier in his career, Shimkus worked for several large international organizations and led their product management efforts. He then served as chief technology officer at Morgan Street Document Systems and as founder and CEO of LightsEdge. Both companies offered cloud-based document management solutions that supported large numbers of mobile users. Shimkus later founded Cartavi to help real estate professionals manage the many documents required to process transactions, then sold the company to DocuSign and played a leading role in that company’s growth.