Phil Soper, Pres. and CEO, Royal LePage and Brookfield Real Estate Services Inc. | February 11, 2015

The Empire Club of Canada Presents:

Phil Soper, President and CEO, Royal LePage and Brookfield Real Estate Services Inc. With The Canadian and GTA Housing Market: Room for Optimism, Cause for Concern

Phil Soper is President and CEO of Royal LePage and Brookfield Real Estate Services Inc., Brookfield RES, a Toronto Stock Exchange listed firm that trades under the symbol BRE. The company is the leading provider of brokerage and technology services to real estate professionals in Canada, with over 17,000 agents in its Royal LePage, Royal LePage Commercial, Johnston and Daniel, Via Capitale and Prudential Real Estate businesses. Phil Soper was named President of Royal LePage in 2002 and CEO of Brookfield RES in 2004. The business has more than tripled revenue and doubled agent count during Mr. Soper's tenure. From 2008 until 2012, Brookfield Real Estate Services made a series of strategic acquisitions in the American market, including GMAC Real Estate, Real Living and Prudential Real Estate, with a combined agent count of over fifty thousand professionals. In 2012, these businesses became Berkshire Hathaway Home Services, a joint venture between Brookfield and Warren Buffet's Berkshire Hathaway. The new firm was named U.S. Real Estate Agency Brand of the Year in a 2013 Harris EquiTrend study. Phil Soper is a frequent commentator on economic issues and the North American real estate industry. He was an early adopter in leveraging social media channels to enhance his firm's effectiveness and communications reach. U.S. based Swanepoel Report named Mr. Soper the most influential leader in Canadian residential real estate and number 18 worldwide, and Real Estate Marketing magazine declared him one the 25 most important leaders of the past 25 years. In January of 2015, Phil Soper will be honoured as CEO of the Year by the Canadian Public Relations Society, Toronto, a first for the industry in the twenty five year history of the award. Soper's board responsibilities include Brookfield RES, the Royal LePage Shelter Foundation, Canada's largest charity focused on domestic violence education and victim support, the Brookfield RES Foundation, which supports at risk youth focused and employee driven charitable initiatives, and Ryerson University's Ted Rogers School of Business. He is a former governor of the University of Alberta. Prior to joining the real estate industry, Phil Soper was a senior executive with technology giant IBM where he held various national and global leadership roles in professional services, business development, finance, marketing and sales. When he left IBM, Mr. Soper was General Manager, Information Technology Consulting and Services, the largest such business in the nation. He is married to Toronto lawyer, Melanie Yach. Mr. Soper graduated from the University of Alberta with a Bachelor of Commerce, and from the University of Western Ontario's Ivey Executive Program

Speaker: Phil Soper, President and CEO, Royal LePage and Brookfield Real Estate Services Inc.

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