Earnnest names Russell Smith CEO, Rick Altizer vice chairman

Russell Smith has been named chief executive officer of digital real estate payments platform Earnnest, succeeding longtime CEO Rick Altizer, the company announced Tuesday. Altizer will move into the role of vice chairman of the board after seven and a half years leading the Greenville, South Carolina-based firm. The planned transition is intended to support Earnnest’s next expansion phase as it scales its earnest money platform and adds new digital payment types for real estate, according to the announcement. Smith, who joined Earnnest in fall 2020, has served as president and chief operating officer for the past four years. Working alongside Altizer, he helped grow the company from an early-stage startup into what it describes as the nation’s top digital earnest money service, with adoption across brokerages, escrow companies, homebuilders, multiple listing services and technology platforms. Since Altizer joined Earnnest in March 2019, the company has processed more than 1 million transactions totaling more than $4 billion in volume, the company said. Earnnest reported a “flawless security record” during that period, with zero instances of fraud for homebuyers, and expanded its n...