Paul Hulme was born on a farm in Panguitch, Utah that had neither water nor electricity, and now lives in Saratoga, California. He began his business career at the age of nine and delivered both morning and evening newspapers for eight years, simultaneously operating a door-to-door sales business and worked one summer on the Section crew of the D&RGW Railroad before he was twenty.
By the time he was twenty-four he had received a bachelor's degree from the University of Utah, completed his tour of duty as a commissioned officer in the U.S. Air Force, served a two and a half year mission in Germany for his church, was accepted into medical school at the University of Utah, founded and operated a successful chain link fence contracting business and established himself as a full-time licensed life insurance agent.
He chose a business career rather than entering medical school, continuing on in securities sales, estate planning, agency development and management, and property management. As a life-long entrepreneur he has usually had several businesses going simultaneously including chemicals, equipment, products, sales, service companies, farms, stores and orchards. He currently has approximately 1,700 people employed in more than 30 states.
He founded and is sole owner of Alain Pinel Realtors, Inc., which was established in 1990. Paul was the driving force behind the development of state-of-the-art software, technology, and broad use of computer applications in real estate that immediately attracted national media attention. Combining this with high-end marketing expertise and award-winning advertising and marketing, the firm attracted superstar managers and agents. In 2007, with over $7.2 billion in sales, Alain Pinel Realtors ranked third in the nation among privately-owned independent residential brokerages and seventh in the nation among all residential real estate companies.
The company is debt free.
Larry Knapp is President and Chief Operating Officer of Alain Pinel Realtors (APR). APR is the largest independent residential real estate firm in California and was ranked eighth largest in the United States in 2008 by RealTrends Magazine. The firm has 30 offices and over 1,300 sales associates serving 10 San Francisco Bay Area counties.
Since being named President in 2003, Knapp has expanded the firm with the opening of new offices in Burlingame, the Almaden Valley of San Jose, the Montclair District of Oakland, Livermore, San Francisco, and Marin and Sonoma Counties. He has also expanded existing offices in Los Gatos, San Mateo, Half Moon Bay and Los Altos.
In 2004 Knapp helped guide the creation of Private Mortgage Advisors, a partnership with Wells Fargo Bank that provides in-house mortgage services as part of the firm’s commitment to providing a full array of real estate services to its clients.
Knapp has enhanced the firms presence in The Leading Real Estate Companies of the World and led APR to become a founding member of its Luxury Portfolio division. He has implemented the Quality Service Certification (QSC) program by offering designation-level training to all APR sales professionals and has expanded the company’s relocation program by adding Business Development services, including implementation of both a Seniors and Diversity program.
Knapp began his real estate career in 1969 at the age of 22. He started as a Sales Agent for a small family-owned company, became an Office Manager in 1971 and General Sales Manager in 1980. When the firm was acquired in 1981 by Coldwell Banker, Knapp was named Regional Manager of the Sacramento area, and in 1985 was named President of Coldwell Banker, Northern California. Over the next several years Knapp began taking on regional responsibilities outside of Northern California, and upon the creation of NRT in 1997, was named Senior Vice President, Western Region of NRT, Inc. With NRT, he helped direct the acquisition and merger of many of California’s most successful real estate companies, including Fox & Carskadon, Del Monte Properties, Contempo Real Estate, Seville Properties, Cornish and Carey, Prudential Jon Douglas and Fred Sands. By 2001 Knapp managed residential real estate companies with over 200 offices, 9,000 agents, $60 billion in sales volume and $1.2 billion in revenues from California, Oregon, Washington and Colorado.
Knapp is a member of many local Realtor Associations, is on the Board of Directors of the California and National Associations of Realtors and currently serves on the Executive Committee of NAR. He is the Immediate Past Chairman of MLSListings, Inc., one of the largest Multiple Listing Services in California and is Past President of the Sacramento Association of Realtors (1984).
Knapp holds the professional designations of CRB, GRI and ePRO and is a frequent guest speaker at industry sponsored events.
David Bellamy has more than two decades of finance management and administrative experience and has worked for some of the worlds leading business brands. In his current capacity as Chief Financial Officer for Alain Pinel Realtors, he oversees all accounting functions, budgeting processes, strategic planning and financial reporting to support the organization. He reports to Founder & CEO Paul Hulme and also supports President/COO Larry Knapp.
Prior to joining APR in 2007, Mr. Bellamy was in executive management with The Body Shop, most recently as its CFO, VP Finance, Real Estate & IT for the Americas Region. Prior positions included VP Real Estate and Director, Planning & Analysis. His responsibilities covered the full scope of the financial and real estate functions, including accounting, reporting, budgeting, analysis, strategic planning, insurance, legal, site selection, lease management, and construction.
Before moving to The Body Shop, Mr. Bellamy was Controller External Reporting and Treasury Accounting as well as holding other positions of responsibility in finance at Intel Corporation in Santa Clara. He began his career as Audit Supervisor at Coopers & Lybrand in San Francisco.
Mr. Bellamy is a Certified Public Accountant, has a Bachelor of Science in Accounting from the University of Santa Clara, a B. Com (Accounting) from the University of Cape Town, South Africa, and a Master of Business Administration in Finance from the University of Chicago.
Michi Olson is Vice President of Business Development and Relocation and serves as Alain Pinel Realtors' primary point-of-contact for company-wide relocation services, including its affiliation with The Leading Real Estate Companies of the World, the world's largest referral network for independent real estate services companies that formerly operated as RELO. In this role, she manages the brokerage's corporate relocation network and assists thousands of families annually when they move from one state to another for work purposes, or increasingly, to global destinations in job-related moves. She joined the company in April 2004 as VP and Director of Relocation. Ms. Olson is also responsible for developing new strategic business opportunities and initiatives for Alain Pinel Realtors, including initiatives with seniors and minorities.
Before joining APR, Ms. Olson was the Director of Relocation for E-Loan where she was responsible for serving the mortgage needs for corporate clients who were transferring employees. Prior to that Michi was Vice President of Business Development with SOMA Living and Marketing Director for Corporate Relocation Services with Wells Fargo Home Mortgage. Earlier in her real estate career, Michi was with Cornish & Carey Residential Real Estate in the mid-1990s where she served as Vice President of their Home Sales Division and as Vice President of Expansion for licensed offices.
Michi Olson moved to California from her native Japan in 1964 to attend college and has remained a Californian ever since. After raising a family, she entered the work force and later, real estate in 1992 as Assistant Vice President/County Sales Manager with North American Title Company in San Jose. Ms. Olson received her Bachelor of Arts in Business Management from St. Marys College in Moraga. She is a member of the National Association of Realtors, Past President of Women's Council of Realtors, is active in Relocation Directors Council, National Association of Hispanic Real Estate Professionals, Employee Relocation Council and Bay Area Professionals in Relocation Management. In 2006 she earned the prestigious Global Mobility Specialist designation from Worldwide ERC, a professional membership association comprised of individuals working in global workforce and mobility professions. Ms. Olson is a frequent guest speaker and panelist in regional and national relocation conferences. Born and raised in Japan, Michi attended The American School in Japan for "expats." Michis international experience has proven valuable in dealing with relocation issues. Ms. Olson is based in Alain Pinel Realtors' relocation office in San Ramons Bishop Ranch.
Jim Chambers recently joined Alain Pinel Realtors as Human Resources Director bringing with him more than 20 years of experience in labor relations, recruitment and administration practice.
Jim is responsible for implementing the company's compensation and benefit plans. He ensures compliance with company policies for approximately 1,250 APR managers, staff and sales professionals.
Chambers worked for Bristlecone, Inc., an 80-person, pre-IPO consulting and development firm located in Santa Clara before joining Alain Pinel Realtors. At Bristlecone he was Human Resources Manager working with firm's principals to establish polices and procedures, salary administration, insurance and recruitment directives.
From 1982 to 2002, Chambers was Human Resources & Bindery Mail Manager with Quebecor World in San Jose, a 300-person union employee company and the largest commercial printer in the world. He represented the company in labor negotiations and labor contract administration with four separate unions.
Chambers received his Master of Business Administration from Xavier University in Cincinnati, Ohio and his Bachelor of Science degree in Business Economics and Math from Wilmington College in Wilmington, Ohio.
Steve Skinner is Vice President of Information Technology at Alain Pinel Realtors and is responsible for overall technology strategy and implementation throughout the APR organization.
Since becoming APRs VP of Information Technology in 2007, Steve’s accomplishments have included the introduction of new consumer and agent tools such as advanced map-based property search and new agent websites. Working with the APR Client Services and Marketing teams, Steve continues to play a leading role in the expansion of APRs online marketing and lead generation efforts as well.
A licensed Realtor (non-practicing), Steve’s background has enabled him to play a key role in helping Alain Pinel Realtors with a variety of technology development projects. He understands the nature of the industry and is uniquely qualified at helping brokers, agents and affiliates adapt to the changing business models and emerging technology practices that exist in todays luxury real estate marketplace.
He joined Alain Pinel Realtors in 2002 as a real estate sales associate. Before becoming a Realtor, Steve served as the Director of Client Services at InmanSTORIES, where he was responsible for client development and commercial (internet) video production for luxury real estate brokers throughout the U.S.
Prior to his involvement in real estate, Steve enjoyed a pioneering career in the three-dimensional computer animation industry; working in the United States and Europe on award winning visualization projects for the Entertainment, Design and Manufacturing industries.
Mr. Skinner holds a Bachelors Degree in Architecture from University of California, Berkeley. He is member of the San Mateo County Association of Realtors, California Association of Realtors and National association of Realtors.
