Movers: Cyrus Mohseni becomes strategy chief at OC’s First Team

The new year brought a new executive gig for Cyrus  Mohseni, founder of The Keystone Team residential agency in Newport Beach.

Earlier this month he was named vice president of strategy and growth for First Team, a Newport Beach-based brokerage with 30 offices mostly in Southern California. He also will switch the affiliation of his firm and its 32 agents to First Team. 

Mohseni’s group most recently affiliated with the white-label brokerage Side. One reason Mohseni wanted to move to First Team is that he thinks Keystone agents will be able to take advantage of First Team’s infrastructure, such as its offices. They’ll also be able to make use of First Team training, career development and recruiters to bring new talent.

One part of Mohseni’s new job will be to develop careers for First Team agents, which he said is intended to culminate with agents owning and running their offices. 

Mohseni’s first order of business will be to develop a game plan on where First Team will open new offices. Mohseni said the company plans to open offices in the San Francisco Bay Area and perhaps out of state.

Michele Harrington, First Team’s CEO, recruited Mohseni. She started helming First Team in October. 

“We currently have 1,900 agents,” Harrington said of First Team. “(Company strategy)  is not about increasing agent count necessarily. It’s about increasing productivity so we look at it from the perspective of volume numbers versus agent count. Our goal is to bring over $1 billion in volume this year,” she said in an email.

Mohseni might work well as a trainer; his avocation is coaching soccer. He most recently  coached the women’s soccer team at the University of Southern California. He exited his USC gig this month to focus on his new job. 

He formerly played as a goalkeeper for professional soccer teams Chivas USA and San Jose Earthquakes. A 2017 car accident sidelined his professional sports career. Mohseni also produces Cyrus’ Podcast, where he interviews real estate executives, entrepreneurs, athletes and musicians on their careers.

➤Patrick Fogarty affiliated with Carolwood Estates this month after a six-year run with Hilton & Hyland. The London-born Fogarty has focused on neighborhoods such as Beverly Hills and Los Angeles’ Bird Streets. He represented the buyer in the 2019 deal for a $42 million mansion at 1155 Angelo Drive in Beverly Hills.

➤Judy Jimenez Visutsiri has affiliated with Ziggy Rees Real Estate Team at Compass. For 15 years, she has renovated and managed investment real estate with her husband Shawn Visutsiri. working in interior design sales, Jimenez Visutsiri recently received press notice by glossy magazine Angeleno, which devoted a two-page spread in its September 2023 issue on her personal style, which the article described as ‘70s vintage glamor with a modern-day disco twist. With Compass she will focus on neighborhoods such as Hollywood Hills, Brentwood and Palm Springs. 

Other recent Compass affiliations include the team of Kai Bayless and Phillip Nguyen, who formerly worked with Meital Taub Luxury Group at Side. Based in Dana Point, Bayless and Nguyen will focus on South Orange County.

Anne Burkin has affiliated with Compass after working with Douglas Elliman in Brentwood. She will focus on Calabasas and the Westside, according to a Compass statement. 

➤Nourmand & Associates recently announced new agents. Caroline Nick will work from Nourmand’s Brentwood office. She will focus on the markets of Pacific Palisades, Brentwood and Santa Monica. She moved from Charlotte, North Carolina, where she was previously affiliated with Dickens Mitchener Residential Real Estate.

Shota Guterres also will work from Nourmand’s Brentwood office. With avocations such as surfing and working as a lifeguard, Guterres will focus on beach communities from Marina Del Rey to Malibu. He’ll also work in Agoura Hills and Westlake Village.

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