Stu Costello will take the reins at Harcourts South Australia as chief executive in early January 2022, the network has announced.
This is the second major appointment the brand has made this month, after naming Katrina Tarrant to the top job in New South Wales.
Adrian Knowles, Harcourts Australia CEO, said this latest announcement completes the full suite of leadership positions.
Mr Knowles remarked that Mr Costello was a natural fit for the role based on his history with the brand, his personal knowledge of the state, and his impressive business acumen.
“After successfully listing and selling for over a decade, Stu went out on his own running a business development coaching brand.
“He then moved to Auckland and joined the largest Harcourts franchise in the world – Harcourts Cooper & Co – as their Director of Residential Sales, supporting a team of 450 people, before moving across to Elders Real Estate as the State Residential Real Estate Manager,” Mr Knowles said.
And having grown up in the Riverland with close ties to the city of Adelaide, Mr Costello said he was eager to hit the ground running with the South Australian team.
“During my first 12 months as CEO I’d like the values to remain as strong as ever within the group and to continue supporting the team through whatever triumphs or challenges we may face. Ultimately, I’d like to make sure we’re always doing better today than we were yesterday,” Mr Costello said.
He cited what he saw as the company’s high standards and principles as a primary motivator for taking on the new role.
“The values sit in perfect alignment for me at a personal level; in particular, ‘do the right thing’ - it’s often easy for people to choose the right thing when life is going well, but it’s the true test of character when someone can still do the right thing when life has dealt them a tough hand,” Mr Costello said.
“Putting people first and helping them through challenges is something I value at my core,” he added.
Mr Knowles agreed that Mr Costello’s approach to business and people made him a great match for the brand.
“Stu has excelled in everything he has put his mind to throughout his career with a genuinely personal approach to his stakeholders,” he said.
“Stu is the perfect person to have at the helm of Harcourts South Australia and we are looking forward to welcoming him officially into the Harcourts family in 2022.”
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Juliet Helmke
Based in Sydney, Juliet Helmke has a broad range of reporting and editorial experience across the areas of business, technology, entertainment and the arts. She was formerly Senior Editor at The New York Observer.