Clear Capital, a two-time winner of HousingWire Magazine’s Tech100 as one of the top tech companies in the housing industry, announced this week that it added Nick Kolegraff as the company’s director of machine learning and artificial intelligence.
In this role, Kolegraff will lead the company’s push to bring machine learning and AI to property valuations.
Clear Capital provides data and solutions for residential and commercial real estate asset valuation and collateral risk assessment for financial services companies. The company’s products include appraisals, broker price opinions, property condition inspections, value reconciliations, quality assurance services, home data indices and more.
And now, with Kolegraff in the fold, Clear Capital said that it plans to “ramp up” its technological advancements to bring “more efficient and more accurate” valuation tools.
“We have spent more than 15 years gathering, organizing and optimizing one of the most complete and organized collection of property data. This increased focus on AI and machine learning is a natural next step in advancing the solutions that our customers deserve,” said Clear Capital President and Co-Founder Kevin Marshall. “We also recognize that the best way to drive innovation for our partners is working with the best people.”
As director of machine learning and AI, Kolegraff will focus on “delivering enhanced product experiences for Clear Capital customers that will provide them with the ability to access current AI and machine learning functionality,” the company said in a release.
Kolegraff joins Clear Capital from Rackspace, where he held several senior positions. Additionally, Kolegraff previously served as principal scientist at Accenture.
“My fascination with numbers began early in my life when I discovered that a computer could be programmed to solve complex problems,” Kolegraff said. “Understanding how AI and machine learning can work together to give people a life of unimagined possibilities rather than a life less evolved has been a major motivating factor in joining Clear Capital’s growing team of future-thinking leaders.”
Kolegraff’s addition comes as part of a growth plan for Clear Capital’s technology team.
According to the company, it plans to grow its technology group, which also includes AI, machine learning and data science, by an additional 50% in 2018.