Christie’s International Real Estate Names New Co-Presidents, Hires Biz Dev Pro To Lead Expansion

Fast-growing luxury brand promotes company veterans Natalie Hamrick and Kevin Van Eck to lead its Americas network and hires former Compass director Nidhal Charfi to drive affiliate growth.

Christie’s International Real Estate, the world’s premier luxury real estate brand, today announced that it has promoted two top executives, Natalie Hamrick and Kevin Van Eck, to lead the network in the Americas. Hamrick has been named president of affiliate services, and Van Eck has been named president of affiliate strategy. In addition, the company has hired Nidhal Charfi to head up North American sales efforts as vice president of affiliate expansion. Charfi is the former senior director of sales and strategic growth for Compass. The moves were announced by Christie’s International Real Estate co-CEO, Thad Wong.

Hamrick and Van Eck are ascending into the role most recently held by Chris Lim. All three, along with Wong and co-CEO Mike Golden, were part of the team at Chicago-based @properties that orchestrated the acquisition of Christie’s International Real Estate from Christie’s in late 2021. Lim will remain with the company as a senior advisor and global brand ambassador, working to expand the relationship between the real estate business and the auction house, among other duties.

Hamrick has spent a total of 13 years within the Christie’s International Real Estate organization, most recently as executive vice president of the Americas, where she oversaw business development and affiliate services for the network’s member firms in the U.S., Canada, Latin America and the Caribbean. She has also held several top-level service and strategy positions at the company.

Van Eck previously served as Christie’s International Real Estate’s executive vice president of innovation and education, playing a major part in the ongoing development and implementation of the brand’s industry-leading pl@tform™ technology, as well as marketing, coaching and training programs. He held a similar role with @properties, culminating in the firm being named the Inman Innovator 2022 Brokerage of the Year. Van Eck also has more than a decade of experience as a real estate agent and managing broker.

Charfi joins Christie’s International Real Estate with a background in business development for both real estate and technology companies including LinkedIn, Oracle and Compass. He was brought on as the first member of Compass’ strategic growth team in 2015 to launch and scale key markets, including Washington D.C., Maryland, Virginia, South Florida, and Atlanta. During his almost seven years with the company, he helped grow the firm’s annual revenue from $40 million to over $6 billion. Since leaving Compass in 2022, Charfi has been consulting for real estate brokerage and prop-tech firms.

“Over the last two years, we have had a lot of success growing Christie’s International Real Estate and delivering new technology, marketing, and coaching programs. Now, we see an opportunity to add depth to our executive leadership by giving Natalie and Kevin a larger role and creating an even stronger platform for network growth with Nidhal. In addition, we are investing in Chris’ relationships with Christie’s auction house to drive increased referrals around the globe. The result is a bigger, better team that fully leverages the experience and talents of each individual,” said Wong.

The co-leadership arrangement with Hamrick and Van Eck may seem unorthodox, but it is one that is very familiar to Wong and Christie’s International Real Estate co-CEO, Mike Golden. The two have shared leadership duties for the past 21 years while building one of America’s largest brokerage firms.

“Much like Mike and I, Natalie and Kevin have very complementary skills. Not only is Natalie exceptional in marketing, client relations and affiliate service; she also has a deep understanding of Christie’s and its relationship to Christie’s International Real Estate. Meanwhile, Kevin is equally talented when it comes to our pl@tform technology, coaching, training, and recruiting. He has a very strong operational background. I’m confident this will be a case of the whole being greater than the sum of its parts,” said Wong.

“I’ve been with Christie’s International Real Estate most of my professional life, and I’ve never seen the type of momentum – either at the corporate or affiliate level – that we have today,” said Hamrick. “Certainly, the market is presenting challenges, but that is also an opportunity, because we believe we have the best solutions, and we are going to prove it across each and every market in the network.”

“Christie’s International Real Estate has a tremendous opportunity to continue its growth trajectory thanks to its commitment to building and investing in the future of real estate,” added Charfi. “We have the vision, leadership, technology and brand to keep playing offense and thriving in a marketplace where almost everyone else is playing defense.”

Christie’s International Real Estate was born out of the iconic Christie’s auction house, which has captivated a global audience of art collectors and luxury consumers since 1766. The real estate company maintains a close partnership with the auction house, creating unique synergies between the worlds of high-end real estate, art, and luxury goods, including jewelry, watches, handbags, and wine and spirits.

Since its acquisition by Chicago-based real estate and technology company @properties in late 2021, Christie’s International Real Estate has added market-leading independent brokerage firms in major U.S. markets including New York, Los Angeles, Miami, Atlanta, Chicago, the San Francisco Bay Area and other cities. The brand has also expanded internationally with new affiliates in the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, Japan, Estonia, Malta, Belgium, and the Caribbean.

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About Christie’s International Real Estate

Christie’s International Real Estate has successfully marketed high-value real estate around the world for more than 30 years. Through its invitation-only Affiliate network spanning nearly 50 countries and territories, Christie’s International Real Estate offers incomparable services to a global clientele at the luxury end of the residential property market. The company and its affiliated brokerages have recorded