Ex-eBay Classifieds and Domain CTO Brent McLean Switches to AVIV Group

Axel Springer owned AVIV Group has announced that classifieds industry veteran Brent McLean has been appointed as the company's new CTO.

McLean had previously been working as Chief Product and Technology Officer at competitor classifieds operator eBay Classifieds - which was bought by Adevinta for $9.2 billion last year. Before that, he had worked for Fairfax Media in his native Australia where he spent 5 years as Technology Director of Fairfax's classifieds brands including #2 Aussie portal Domain.

In his new role, McLean will be responsible for technology at some of Axel Springer's most iconic real estate portals such as Immoweb in Belgium, SeLoger in France, Yad2 in Israel and Immowelt in Germany.

Speaking about the appointment, Ait Voncke, CEO AVIV Group said:

"I am very happy to welcome Brent to AVIV Group. He has a deep background in Classifieds and the challenges of building best in class products in a rapidly evolving technology and competitive landscape. With Brent’s expertise we are aligning our tech roadmap across the organization to create a European real estate marketplace enhancing the experience for property seekers, owners, agents and other professionals alike."

Commenting on his new role, McLean said:

“I have a deep love of real estate and everything that revolves around it. In this light I am truly eager to join AVIV and help bring to life the opportunities that these awesome businesses have now and before them. AVIV presents fantastic assets coupled with untapped potential – I can’t wait to get started."

The appointment is the latest in a string of high profile managerial signings made by AVIV Group over the past 12 months. CEO Voncke was hired in December to replace the retiring Ralf Baumann and the appointments of Benoit Jolin as CPO and Bettina Curtze as CFO followed in April and July respectively.