Kipp Cooper, KCRAR and Heartland MLS CEO, was named on the 2025 Swanepoel Power 200 list, published earlier this week. This annual list “ranks the most powerful leaders in the residential real estate brokerage industry,” according to its website. Cooper ranked #21 in Organized Real Estate and ranked #156 among North America’s real estate professionals, including founders and executives from brokerages, franchises, associations and technology companies. 2025 is Cooper’s second year appearing on the list.
The list highlighted Heartland MLS’s data-sharing agreement with REcolorado, First MLS, the Miami Association of REALTORS® and MLSListings Inc, which Cooper oversaw in 2024.
“It’s encouraging to see Kipp Cooper’s capable leadership acknowledged among real estate executives nationally,” said Andrew Mall, 2025 KCRAR President. “KCRAR and Heartland MLS are fortunate to have Kipp as CEO.”
Cooper has been leading KCRAR and Heartland MLS since 2015, when he came to Kansas City from his CEO position at the Huntsville Area Association of REALTORS® in Alabama. Since then, he has worked with the Boards of Directors to lead the company through numerous initiatives, including the launch of REALTORS® Rock the Block, the UMKC REALTOR® Leadership Academy, MLS Grid and numerous technology benefits for members. Between KCRAR and Heartland MLS, he has overseen eight mergers and acquisitions that have increased the geographic jurisdiction of KCRAR to 46 counties in Missouri and Kansas.
“I consider this a team win for KCRAR and Heartland MLS,” Cooper said. “While I appreciate the recognition, it is our incredible staff and volunteer leaders who support and advise me in collectively serving our members to the best of our ability each day.”
T3 Sixty, creator of the Swanepoel Power 200 list, states on its website that ranks are determined “by each leader’s power within the industry — how much capital could they access or leverage themselves, their ownership stake, if any, in the companies they lead, the size and importance of the companies they lead, their place in their company’s org chart, their personal influence within the industry, the size and production of the companies they lead. All of these factors are considered when ranking leaders, and, as such, the exercise requires a ton of analysis and, unavoidably, some subjectivity.”
