About Us
Stan Humphries, Chief Economist
Stan Humphries is in charge of data and analytics. He helped create the Zestimate and its algorithm and is also in charge of calculating all statistics on the housing market, including the Zillow Home Value Index. Prior to joining Zillow, Stan spent five years at Expedia.com where he ran a team responsible for finding innovative ways to use data, building systems for personalization, pricing, forecasting, and fraud detection. Before Expedia, Stan served as a researcher and faculty member at the University of Virginia, and was previously with NASA where he negotiated international science agreements. Stan has also served in the United States Peace Corps, where he taught physics and chemistry classes in West Africa. Stan has a Bachelor of Arts from Davidson College, a Masters of Science in Foreign Service from Georgetown University, and a Ph.D. in Government from the University of Virginia. Stan is a frequent commentator on housing trends in the media and has appeared on CNBC, Bloomberg TV, Fox Business News and in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and others. Follow Stan on Twitter: @StanHumphries.
Svenja Maarit Gudell, Senior Economist
Svenja joined Zillow in 2011 and is currently working on negative equity valuations and forecasting. She also works on foreclosure research and is involved in research collaborations with other organizations and academics. Prior to joining Zillow, Svenja completed her Ph.D. in Finance from the University of Rochester. Before starting her Ph.D. program, Svenja worked for Analysis Group in Boston, where she was part of various teams working on economic, financial and strategy consulting projects. She also worked at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, where she was an Assistant Economist in the International Research Group.
Andrew Bruce, Senior Director of Quantitative Modeling
Andrew is in charge of the quantitative modeling group, which is responsible for products such as the Zestimate, Rent Zestimate, and ZHVI price index and forecasts. Prior to joining Zillow in 2012, Andrew was a partner in Samurai Trading since 2004. Samurai is a broker-dealer that focuses on electronic market-making, and has operated in a variety exchanges, including BATS, CBOE, ISE and BOX. He was also at Lehman Brothers in the Global Electronic Trading department, working on a several strategic initiatives including a new platform for FOREX trading. Andrew worked at Insightful Corp (a vendor of statistical software and now part of the Spotfire division of TIBCO) in a range of corporate roles with an emphasis on the finance sector. He has had research fellowships from the Dept. of Census and Statistics New Zealand, and was a Lecturer at University of Victoria in Wellington, NZ). He received a Ph.D. in statistics from the University of Washington and an A.B. in statistics from Princeton University.
Yeng Bun, Senior Quantitative Modeler
Yeng joined Zillow in 2006 and plays a major role in the production and quality of our Real Estate Market Reports. He also developed and implemented parts of the AVM that produces Zestimates. Prior to joining Zillow, spent four years at Samurai EC and Lehman Brothers, where he developed parts of real-time systems for market makers to quote and trade stock options and FOREX with various exchanges. He has also worked at Insightful Corp. as a developer of statistical software and at QUEST Integrated, where he worked on research projects in areas of computational fluid dynamics, computer-aided engineering and water jet machining. Yeng holds a Ph.D. in Applied Math from the University of Washington.
Bill Constantine, Senior Quantitative Modeler
Bill began working at Zillow as a senior quantitative modeler in 2012. He is in charge of streamlining the development process for our analytics and is steadily working to improve them. Prior to joining Zillow, Bill spent four years at Revolution Analytics as a senior developer of advanced analytics and ten years at Insightful Corporation as a (principal) investigator for several research contracts with various government agencies including the NIH, DoD, NASA, and NSF. Bill also worked at NASA Ames Research Center while getting his Master’s degree, where he used wavelet techniques to analyze helicopter noise. Bill holds a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering specializing in nonlinear dynamics from the University of Washington.
Dong Xiang, Senior Quantitative Modeler
Dong came to Zillow in 2005 as a senior quantitative modeler, where he helped develop the Zestimate algorithm. He also works on Zillow’s Real Estate Market Reports, and helps calculate our negative equity figures. Before he came to Zillow, Dong worked at Expedia.com, where he developed models for a real-time fraud detection system for air and hotel purchases. He has also worked at the SAS Institute. Dong received his Ph.D. and his Masters Degree in statistics from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and a Bachelor of Science in Statistics from Beijing University.
Jeff Howbert, Senior Quantitative Modeler
Jeff began consulting for Zillow as a senior quantitative modeler in 2012. He is working on multiple approaches to improving the Zestimate algorithm. His received a B.A. in English Literature from Stanford University and Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from Harvard, which led to a 25+ year first career in the pharmaceutical and biotech industries leading drug discovery and development efforts. He recently returned to school, earned a M.S. in Computer Science from University of Washington, and is now enjoying a second career focused on applications of machine learning to big data problems. He currently spends most of his time doing research on new proteomics scoring methods in the Genome Sciences Department at University of Washington.
Chunyi Wang, Quantitative Modeler
Chunyi joined Zillow as a Quantitative Modeler in October 2012. Chunyi has been working in valuation models on multiple projects, including the Zestimate and Zillow Digs. Prior to joining Zillow he lived in Toronto, Canada during which time he obtained a Masters of Science (and is about to finish a Ph.D.) in Statistics from the University of Toronto.
James Murphy, Quantitative Modeler
James began working with Zillow in 2012. James works on analyses in support of the Zestimate, with a particular focus on quantifying important spatial patterns and geographic features. Previously he worked as a quantitative research scientist for NOAA and in the environmental consulting field. He has a M.S. from Cornell and a Ph.D. from the University of Washington in environmental modeling.
Nalina Varanasi, Economist Consultant
Nalina joined Zillow in 2012 and is working on the Buy vs. Rent Breakeven Horizon, Free and Clear homeownership, Rental Reports as well as other analyses. Prior to joining Zillow, Nalina worked as an adjunct faculty member at Seattle University and as a Senior Fellow at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation in Seattle where she worked on the Health Service Delivery Constraints research team, identifying demand and supply side barriers that prevent individuals from accessing health care. She also has experience developing enterprise application software such as the supply chain management software. Nalina received her Ph.D. and Masters Degree in Economics from the University of Washington specializing in Applied Econometrics and Applied Microeconomics, and also holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science from the University of Mumbai.
Clark Lundberg, Economic Research Analyst
Clark joined Zillow in 2012 as an Economic Research Analyst. He is currently finishing up a Ph.D. in Economics at the University of Washington. Before starting his Ph.D., Clark worked as an Analyst for the Department of Defense in Washington, DC. During his time with the DoD he was detailed to various other agencies including the U.S. Department of the Treasury. Clark also holds an M.A. in International Affairs from the George Washington University. Some of Clark’s projects at Zillow include the analysis of cash buyers for homes as well as finding the areas that would be impacted by capping the mortgage interest deduction.
Skylar Olsen, Economic Research Analyst
Skylar joined Zillow in summer 2012. She is a Doctoral Candidate at the University of Washington and plans on finishing her PhD in Economics in the summer of 2013. Skylar currently holds an M.A. in Economics with a focus on Econometrics and Environmental Econ from the University of Washington as well as a B.S. in Economics and a Minor in Statistics from Cal Poly. Skylar has been working on various research projects at Zillow such as the Buyer-Seller Index and for-sale inventory changes.
Meredith Miller, Economics Research Assistant
Meredith joined Zillow in the fall of 2012 and performs various Real Estate economics research projects. Prior to joining Zillow, she was an Agricultural Economist Intern at the USDA Economics Research Service in Washington, DC and conducted research into the assets and debts of low income households by SNAP participation. Meredith received her Bachelor of Science with minors in Mathematics and Spanish as well as a Master of Arts in Economics with a concentration in Econometrics from the University of Delaware.
Austin Gross, Economic Research Analyst
Austin joined Zillow in 2013. He is also pursuing a Ph.D. in Economics at the University of Washington. Before starting his Ph.D. Austin worked in renewable energy consulting. His research focus is in Environmental Economics and Econometrics, where he is working on welfare measures of changing traffic policy in the Puget Sound region. Austin has completed his Masters in Economics at the University of Washington, and received his undergraduate degree from UC Berkeley in Conservation and Resource Studies.
Steve Brownell, Senior Data and Analytics Specialist
Steve joined Zillow in early 2009 as a Data Analyst. His work touches many parts of the company including business intelligence, ad performance, pricing, and combing the real estate market for interesting data trends. Before working at Zillow he was an Associate Scientist at Passport Systems in Massachusetts where he helped develop Photon Accelerator-based Non-Intrusive Nuclear Cargo Inspection Systems for port security funded by the Department of Homeland Security. Steve has a Bachelor of Science in Physics from Northeastern University.
Katie Curnutte, Director of Communications
Katie joined Zillow in 2008 and leads the company’s data PR efforts. She manages the communications surrounding the Real Estate Market Reports and frequently works with economists from government institutions and academia who use Zillow data in their research. Before joining Zillow, she ran public relations for The Warren Group, a Boston-based company that collects public record real estate data. She has also worked as a real estate journalist. Katie has a Bachelor of Science in journalism from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. Follow her on Twitter: @Katie_Curnutte.
Cory Hopkins, Public Relations Manager
Cory joined Zillow in late 2012 to manage the company’s data-driven public relations efforts. Cory spearheads a number of initiatives, including regular monthly and quarterly real estate market reports, negative equity reports and specialized analyses for a broad range of local and national news outlets, think tanks and research centers. Before joining Zillow, he served as editorial director for The Warren Group, a more than 140-year-old, Boston-based real estate data and publishing company. He has also served as a business and general assignment reporter for a number of New England-area publications. Cory received his undergraduate degree in history from The George Washington University in Washington, D.C., and was awarded a Master of Arts in journalism from Emerson College in Boston.
Zillow Technical Advisory Board, Economics
Thomas G. Thibodeau, Ph.D.
Tom Thibodeau is the Global Real Estate Capital Markets Professor and the Academic Director of the CU Real Estate Center in the Leeds School of Business at the University of Colorado-Boulder. Tom is currently teaching Real Estate Finance and Investments and Real Estate Economics in the MBA Program at Leeds. He has taught courses in Real Estate Fundamentals, Real Estate Markets and Valuation, Real Estate Development, Commercial Mortgage Backed Securities, Managerial Economics and Macroeconomics. Tom’s real estate research has been published in numerous nationally recognized refereed journals including Real Estate Economics, Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, Journal of Urban Economics, Land Economics, Journal of Housing Research, Journal of Real Estate Research, Housing Policy Debate, Real Estate Review, Real Estate Finance and Property Tax Journal. Between 2000 and 2006, Tom was an editor or Real Estate Economics. He is a Past President of the American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association (AREUEA) and a Fellow of the Homer Hoyt Advanced Studies Institute. In 2008, AREUEA awarded Tom the George Bloom Award for “his outstanding contributions to the field of real estate.” In October 2009, the National Association of Industrial Office Properties (NAIOP) Research Foundation Governors appointed Tom a NAIOP Distinguished Fellow.
Stephen Malpezzi, Ph.D.
Stephen Malpezzi is the Lorin and Marjorie Tiefenthaler Distinguished Professor in the Wisconsin School of Business’s Department of Real Estate and Urban Land Economics, at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Stephen is the Academic Director of UW’s James A. Graaskamp Center for Real Estate, and has also served as Chair of the Real Estate Department. His research includes work on economic development, the measurement and determinants of real estate prices, housing demand, and the effects of regulation and other economic policies on real estate markets. Among his numerous publications, he’s the author of A Primer on U.S. Housing Markets and Housing Policy (with Richard Green; Urban Institute Press, 2003; the second edition is forthcoming) and is currently finishing a book on local economic development. Stephen holds a Ph.D. in economics from The George Washington University, an M.A. in international affairs from the same university, and a B.A. in political science from LaSalle College.
Further details, including publications, can be found at: http://www.bus.wisc.edu/realestate/faculty/malpezzi.asp