Robert L. Reffkin^[1] is an American entrepreneur who co-founded the online real estate brokerage Compass, Inc. and serves as the company's CEO.^[2]

Biography

Reffkin is African American and Jewish and grew up in Berkeley, California.^[3] His father was an African American man from Louisiana, who already had two children, and shortly after Reffkin was born abandoned him and his mother.^[4] Emigrating from Israel at age 7, his mother Ruth Reffkin, after having her son, was disowned by her family after learning that their grandson was of African American descent.^[5] Since his mother never married his biological father, his mother gave Reffkin his last name, from her first marriage to Gene Reffkin, also Reffkin's Godfather.^[5] His father, a jazz musician,^[6] passed away when he was 11 years old.^[7]

Through A Better Chance, he was matched with and enrolled in San Francisco University High School, where he also delivered its 2021 commencement address.^[7][8] In 1994, Reffkin started his first business at age 15—a DJ company funded by his bar mitzva and babysitting savings.^[7] He was involved with the Network For Teaching Entrepreneurship as a teenager.^[7]

In 2000, Reffkin graduated from Columbia University with a bachelor's degree in under two years.^[7] After graduating from Columbia, he worked for McKinsey & Company from 2000 to 2002 before returning to school and graduated from Columbia Business School with a M.B.A. in 2003.^[7][9] At the time of his hiring, he was the youngest analyst hired by McKinsey.^[1][10]

Reffkin was a White House Fellow in 2005-2006. Founded in 1964, the White House Fellowship is one of America’s most prestigious programs for leadership and public service. The Fellowship, awarded on a strictly non-partisan basis, offers exceptional young leaders first-hand experience working at the highest levels of federal government.

He then moved into investment banking and spent two years working for Lazard.^[7][11] Between 2005 and 2006, Reffkin was a White House Fellow and worked for Secretary of the Treasury John W. Snow.^[1] He returned to investment banking afterwards as a vice president for Goldman Sachs, becoming chief of staff for President and COO Gary Cohn.^[12][13]

In 2007, Reffkin began laying the groundwork for the philanthropy called New York Needs You (now America Needs You) to mentor low-income college students and help them be successful in their careers by offering career development, college support and summer internships. He did a $1 million fundraising by running a marathon in each of the 50 states in the United States and launched NYNY in 2009.^[6][14]

In 2012, he co-founded the online real estate technology company Compass, Inc. with Ori Allon.^[2] The inspiration for his business came from his mother, who suffered hardships working as a real estate agent.^[9][15] Reffkin was inspired to use technology to improve the ability of agents to build their brand, analyze data, and conduct market research to make their business more efficient and profitable.^[16]

In April 2021, Compass, Inc. went public and, according to Black Enterprise, Reffkin was projected to become America's youngest black billionaire.^[17][18] His net worth stood at $500 million following the IPO of his company.^[19]

Reffkin worked with Peter Koechley, Upworthy co-founder and former managing editor of The Onion, in writing the book No One Succeeds Alone: Learn Everything You Can from Everyone You Can, published in 2021.^[20]

References