Matt Fowler: People-First Leadership for MLS Success

By MLSPropTech.com | December 21, 2025

 

Doorify MLS serves over 15,000 REALTORS® across 16 counties in the Raleigh/Durham and Research Triangle Park areas in North Carolina. The organization has been known in recent years for its growth, innovation, and strategic initiatives to move towards a more transparent real estate landscape to serve all consumers. At the forefront of these initiatives sits Matt Fowler, with a vision of repositioning the MLS value proposition in the minds of the clients to build a prosperous, competitive future for all MLSs. As Executive Director, Fowler brings 30+ years of experience in the real estate industry, which has provided him with a deep knowledge and passion for developing and deploying cutting-edge software solutions to better serve consumers and drive innovation. 

 

By overseeing the strategic direction, operations, and partnerships of the organization, Fowler is dedicated to enhancing the local brands of REALTORS® and advancing data standards in the industry. Known for his collaborative leadership style and people-first approach, Fowler has built a reputation for empowering his teams and fostering an environment of constant improvement. His career has been marked by an unwavering commitment to innovation, rooted in early mentorship experiences that shaped his outlook on the power of technology in real estate. In our conversation, Fowler reflects on his journey from his beginnings as an appraiser, where he first explored the intersection of economics and real estate, to his current role as a key figure in the MLS and PropTech sector. He discusses the biggest challenges MLSs face today and offers his vision for a more open, consumer-focused real estate landscape. Join us as we dive into Fowler’s approach to driving change, his passion for fostering young talent, and his plans to lead the industry forward with integrity.

 

How did you get involved with the MLS and PropTech industry?

 

I began my work life as an Appraiser working for a brilliant guy called Dr H. Stan Banton III. He taught me a lot, and I got my General Appraisal Certification while working with him. His dissertation was so innovative, he used a mining formula to predict the value of houses and was way before his time. We started a software company to monetize the idea and that’s what got me into tech. 

What inspired you to pursue a career in this industry?

 

I was drifting a little after College, trying to find something to do with a degree in Foreign Policy and Economics. While working at a camera store I was asked by some old friends who were appraisers to start going to Optimist International lunch meetings. They got me into an apprenticeship with Dr. Banton and I learned how to apply economics in real estate.  

 

How have your previous experiences shaped your approach to your current role?

 

I was CEO of a software company for 19 years where I worked with high-performing engineering teams. They taught me Agile Methodologies and showed me what little discipline I have as a leader. Agile stresses collaboration and communication and fits my personality well. I would rather cross the finish line fourth together with my team than be first by myself. 

 

If you weren't working in MLS and PropTech, what would you be doing?

 

Real estate is really all I know. Development is fun when the money comes together. I have been Managing Partner of an LLC that built a building in Huntsville, AL. It now houses four restaurants and two floors of office space, so that was fun. It's a block away from a store my Grandfather opened in 1910 so it’s cool to add to that history in the historic downtown area. I’d probably do more of those.  

 

What do you consider your biggest professional achievement?

 

That’s an easy one: the people I have gotten to be with on this journey. Mostly young people starting their careers have had resume-building experiences at the companies I have started. Several came to America on H1B programs, others we met in school, or at conferences, or through friends. Shout out to Kai, Venkat, Sri, Manav, and Divia. So many have succeeded beyond their own expectations with senior positions at Google, Amazon and important companies you’ve never heard of like Hexagon and ICE. Several became citizens through their work at my company, some became C-Suite executives. They are my work kids and I am so proud of them all. That is my biggest professional accomplishment. 

 

Professional Insights

What do you think are the biggest challenges facing the MLS industry today?

MLS is the most fair and open housing network in the world and no one knows that. American consumers correlated organized real estate with price fixing, opaque practices, and house flipping. Our biggest challenge is telling our real story to the American people. We add value. We help people find security. We build generational wealth for real families. We must tell that story and do it well if we are to survive.   

 

How do you see technology transforming the real estate market in the next five years?

Mostly by making the transactions easier for people by applying automation. The “chasms of despair” that still exist in the user experience can be addressed with smart systems connecting each step in the home buying/mortgage process. RESO has given us the foundation, now we have to scale it out. Build choice into the delivery of services. End the “Soviet-style” one-size-fits-nobody contracts where tens of thousands are forced to use the same platform. And for what? Because it's more convenient for the vendors of that software. I say to them, too bad. You had it good for a long time. Monopolies are great while they last, for the monopolists, not for the consumer of those services. Competition built America in so many ways and we can do that again using standards. 

Can you discuss a recent project or innovation that you're particularly proud of?

 

Sure, Choice. We told our existing vendor that we needed a RESO compliant, fully operational Rest API on which to build a new automated user experience. They balked. We chose the builders of SparkPlatform.com who had spent years building their API for just this opportunity. They delivered. And, because of standards, ¾ of users were able to stay on the old MLS system after the cutover. We got the backend we needed to move into the future, and our users were not forced off of the system they originally chose to use. 

 

In your opinion, what is the most underrated tool or technology in real estate right now?

 

I was going to say IDX. It still distributes listings to thousands of sites that are the roadside farm stands of real estate. People love Farm to Table, Field to Fork. Local matters still and what do they say about real estate? Location, location, location? It's true to a point. When you are thinking about buying you want to know what it’s like to live there. My best experiences have involved local real estate people who loved their little patch and knew everything and everyone, all the whys and what fors. The local grocery that doesn’t look like much, a place easy to drive past… until you are introduced to Mrs. Liz, after which you could never imagine shopping anywhere else. It would be rude, and besides, you are a local now. Pushing data to every local office as fast as any app on the app store is our mission. 

 

That’s what I was going to say, but now it’s AI. All that stuff I said before but AI will make it all happen faster and smarter and cheaper. Smart searches will change everything so that natural language User Experiences that rely on IDX feeds to teach localized LLMs will dominate the space soon. It will take us two years to do it in my MLS, but it will happen for sure. 

 

How do you approach decision-making and strategy in your role?

 

Cautiously! No, seriously. I use Agile methodologies to help the group figure out who they aspire to be with annual strat planning events. At those events I coach them to visualize the outcomes we want to achieve, what success looks like, and failure so we can get it over with. Gamification, like the $100 game and other exercises, help leaders develop clarity around objectives. That sounds like I discount the process with “games” but these techniques can be a vital ingredient for success, a way to make sure all are heard. If we do that well, the group can agree on what the future *should* look like. With that it’s possible to draw a line backwards and build a plan. 

 

Leadership and Management

 

What is your leadership style, and how has it evolved?

 

Collaborative. I learned to use MBTI to understand people’s personalities a long time ago. It taught me that I am a social person and prefer to work with people. It means I approach leadership more like a coach and less like a general, I guess. When everyone agrees on the goal and we work together to reach it, we get there and celebrate. That’s the best, I think it looks kind of silly celebrating alone. 

 

How do you foster innovation and creativity within your team?

 

That takes work but we encourage everyone to look for ways to improve. One way is a formal retrospective meeting we have 24 times each year, every other Tuesday. We divide work into two-week increments. We plan what we are going to do on Wednesdays. We work through the following second Tuesday and meet that afternoon to go over our work. A retrospective has rules that record things we loved, hated, and learned. We avoid blame and focus on adding to the written processes to record the lessons learned. All team members are encouraged to propose new processes that might help prevent a repeated problem. We talk about Kaizen in this context, constant improvement. 

 

What do you believe is key to maintaining a productive and happy team?

 

That’s easy. Empowerment. If team members don’t feel heard, they can’t really be engaged and productive. Most people respond well to being considered and listened to. That is fortunate for the enterprise because no manager can make informed decisions without the support of the people actually involved. That’s why the Space Shuttle blew up, the first time, because a manager disregarded an engineer. Everything works better with input from the front line, and the front line appreciates the support.

 

How do you approach adapting to changes and disruptions in the business landscape?

 

We elected to build competition, Choice, into the delivery of MLS services. No one company can be expected to provide all services and features and innovations to an MLS; that seems very Soviet anyway. Our approach is to step back from product choice and focus on the data. Our MLS welcomes any and all tech that follows RESO standards and our pro-maker Data Licensing policies. Once a vendor agrees to respect the owners of the intellectual property, like a streaming service but with better terms, doors open for collaboration and innovation. Our business provides data to all competitors and supports all, allowing the Brokers to decide which provides value for money.  

 

What strategies do you use to build and lead successful teams?

 

Professional development is the key to building successful teams. Empowered people make better decisions and better humans. When I see an employee with experience but no professional certifications I see someone who could be more than they are. Agile Certs, Code Camp, Leadership training, Business Analyst Certifications, and so many other professional certifications empower team members through knowledge. They become the verifiable experts in their niche, provide a superior user experience, and reflect positively on the brand. 

 

How do you measure success for yourself and your team?

 

Adhering to Agile, team members attend daily Stand-ups where they metaphorically have to turn in their “homework” to their teammates. We set ambitious goals together and measure progress every other Tuesday as a group, and every morning within the teams. When everything is on schedule we can measure our progress towards objectives with this cadence.  

 

Industry Trends, Vision & Goals

 

What emerging trends in PropTech should industry professionals be paying attention to?

 

AI, AI, and AI mostly. Also AI. We are using it everywhere, for adding listings, for compliance, for help desk, for data quality, and for analysis that once required advanced regression analysis. Now it’s just a question to a chatbot that results in an answer 3 seconds later. It’s amazing. We are also following the new BPP, Dan might be onto something. 

 

How do you stay informed and ahead in this rapidly evolving sector?

 

I read a lot and go to conferences and host one, ProptechSouth.com. There are So. Many. Conferences. But they are the best way to keep in touch. One day I will use my Marriott points for pleasure. 

 

What's your prediction for the next big disruption in MLS or real estate technology?

 

CoStar will buy something they shouldn’t, just so Zillow doesn't get it. It will disrupt things for a minute, until it doesn’t, then it won’t and everyone will move on to the next thing. 

 

What is your vision for the future of MLS and PropTech?

 

Ah, utopia. I think about it a lot. It’s a place where Agents add new listings through their sunglasses, describing the house verbally on the walkthrough. The listing is shared on the network in 0.0000000005 seconds with everyone who always wanted to live in the neighborhood but never believed they could afford it until they talked to a professional. We can make it happen for them if they just reach out and let us. Unless and until we tell that story effectively we don’t have a future. 

 

Are there any specific goals or milestones you're aiming to achieve in the next few years?

 

Yes, two of them. First I want to reduce friction moving from one platform to another. That will require that we develop ways to move Saved Searches and Contacts from one system to another. RESO has a spec for this in the Internet Tracking Workgroup but it needs more adoption. Second, we want a man-on-the-street interview in downtown Raleigh to speak about our brand when we ask them “where do you go for local real estate information?” When we do that we will have made our brand and industry relevant, again. 

 

How do you plan to contribute to the evolution of the industry?

 

Mostly by breaking shit that’s not really broken but should have been retired years ago, like a McDonald’s on a road bypassed by a new highway. It’s a little sad to see the old place torn down, where you got a shake with your beau, back in the day, but the traffic moved and burger delivery must follow. We are no different.   

 

What advice do you have for emerging leaders in the industry?

 

To quote the great American Poet Jason Isbell, “be afraid, then do it anyway.” Our industry is dominated by incrementalism and it shows. The Realtors say things like “you can’t expect me to learn” which is just another way of saying “I am about to retire because I can’t keep up”, even if that person is 30. To have any chance at being part of future real estate networks we have to evolve into a modern, commercial data syndication network. Thankfully for us there are many proven models for this and we do not have to create new science. Pro tip? Identify the best in the business and benchmark against them. Do everything they do but do it better, then check again and repeat until you know you can beat them.   

 

Personal Insights and Advice

 

What's the best piece of professional advice you've ever received?

You are probably not the best-equipped person to do your job. Someone out there knows more than you do, so bring that self-confidence down a notch. Pay attention to experts. Use your mouth and ears in the same ratio as they appear on your head, and listen twice as much as you talk. Count to ten after you say something important to your team. Some of them, maybe most of them, need a minute to respond. Hear me on this, your metaphorical plane will fly into the side of a metaphorical mountain if you do not hear what they have to say. So, remember to have the discipline to make space for your team to talk to you.    

 

How do you balance work and personal life in such a demanding industry?

 

Not well? I work a lot, but I also play a lot and am not afraid to mix life into work time. I intentionally block meetings during times I take my Granddaughter to school. I take my laptop on vacation so before everyone is up I can clear my messages so I can feel more relaxed for the rest of the day. That way “re-entry” is not so bad. 

 

Do you wish to share anything about your family?

 

Only that I am a proud father of two girls who became accomplished adults, one a doctor. They are the most important part of my life and we love making dinner 2-3 nights each week. They have taught me so much about being a Dad, and a male, and have molded my thoughts about so many things. I am a caring white adult man trying to support young people, including young women, in a world with lots of limits. They helped me appreciate the essential humanity of all people and taught me to look beyond my prejudices, a little anyway.  

 

What do you do to unwind or relax after a busy week?

 

Mostly by getting together with my kids by meeting at a brewery or farmers market in Raleigh, Durham, or Chapel Hill where we live. We have brother and sister dogs, 2 year olds from the same litter, and they love playing and going on hikes together so that’s our big activity. 

 

Who in the industry, past or present, do you admire the most and why?

 

So many. Michael Wurzer is one. Michael is committed to the industry like few others. Peter Shuttleworth has to be another, whose kindness and encouragement lives on in the CMLS Award named after him, which I was blessed to win this year. John Mosey as the grandfather of Choice, Bob Hale as the father of the local brand, Dave Phillips as an innovator and caring professional. I am going to leave out so many I should have named but maybe they will forgive me since some are even older than me and know what forgetfulness is like.  

 

What is your favorite quote?

 

Rumi: “You are not a drop in the ocean. You are the entire ocean in a drop.”

 

What advice would you give your younger self?

 

Buy wine to save, learn Portuguese, and listen to your wife.  

 

Can you share a surprising fact about yourself that not many people know?

 

My Grandfather was murdered and I am trying to write a book about it. 

 

What book, movie, or podcast has recently inspired you or impacted your thinking?

 

I love ‘How I Built This,’ the one about Toms Shoes creator Blake Mycoskie and how he sees business opportunities everywhere. Also, I love Simon Sinek’s works, he’s amazing. 

 

Do you have any pets?

 

I have a 4-5 pound mini bernedoodle called Loki and my daughter has his sister, Freya. You know what you call a group of doodles? A “disaster”, as in “a disaster of doodles”. He’s happy all the time and I love working at home because I get to spend so much of my day with him. 

 

Where is your favorite vacation spot?

 

My wife and I have been to St Barth dozens of times. We LOVE the island and the people. Rent a house and a jeep then try not to leave the pool except to visit one of the seven beaches or go to dinner at your choice of dozens of French restaurants. Leaving from Atlanta, Charlotte, or Dallas, you can be in the pool by 4 pm. 

 

What is your favorite book?

 

That’s too hard. Who's your favorite child? There are books I love like Earth and air, books I rely on, books that comprise a safe place to which I can retreat and read or listen to over, and again: Jacob Needleman’s Tao Te Ching, Seamus Haney’s Beowulf, To Kill a Mockingbird, The Hobbit, Halldor Laxness’ Independent People, and a dozen others.