The vice president of the key commercial group of the Nation’s real estate evaluations, agreed to move away from their duties, after an investigation of the New York Times exhibited accusations of women who had touched them without their consent.
A statement published on LinkedIn on Monday said that the vice president, Craig Steinley, would immediately withdraw from making public appearances as an officer of the Evaluation Institute. The statement, which was published by the President of the Group, did not say that Mr. Steinley, 64, had resigned.
Multiple women said they had harassed or subject to an inappropriate driving by Mr. Steinley, and The Times revealed that the Evaluation Institute paid $ 412,000 to a former employee to privately resolve his claim for sexual harassment against him and the organization.
Steinley denied the accusations of the written responses through his lawyer, Craig Capilla. “Mr. Steinley totally denies the accusations of any unwanted touch or harassment. It simply did not happen,” Chapel wrote in an email.
In an interview on Monday, Capilla emphasized that Mr. Steinley had not lost his position. “He hasn’t resigned,” he said. “This is still a continuous problem. I don’t think final decisions have been made.”
The representatives of the Evaluation Institute did not respond to emails and called on Monday requesting more clarifications about the state of Mr. Steinley.
But on Monday, Paula Konikoff, president of the Evaluation Institute, published the declaration on his deviation from public appearances. She said in the statement that Mr. Steinley “makes this choice for consideration and in the interest of not being a distraction for the important and continuous work of the organization.”
The Board of Directors of 28 members of the organization, added Konikoff, has formed a working group in response to the Times research. That working group, he wrote, will work with an external legal advisor “to guide an effort to any policy, procedure, protocols and actions” before considering “what steps should be taken.”
It was not clear if Mr. Steinley will continue to collect a salary. The vice president of the Evaluation Institute, which is a non -profit commercial group, earns around $ 100,000 a year, according to their further fiscal records.
The Evaluation Institute has 16,000 members and exerts considerable influence on how the value of residential and commercial property through the United States is determined. It produces a variety of test materials used to help train and certify both residential and commercial real estate evaluators. (Another former employee, Alissa Akins, is demanding the Institute for Evaluation of the unfair termination, claiming that the Evaluation Institute dismissed her from her position as director of Education and Publications after exhibiting possible errors in test materials).
The private sexual harassment agreement was made in May 2024. Last week, in another legal claim, Cindy Chance, the former executive director of the group, said that Mr. Steinley grabbed his buttocks without his consent, made lascivious comments about his body and referred to her as his “girlfriend.” She has filed a lawsuit in the Illinois State Court against both. Steinley and the Chicago -based Evaluation Institute.
Mr. Steinley, a Dakota -headed appraiser in the South, is described by his colleagues as charismatic and flirtatious. He has a hero, a series of evaluation positions and executive appointments and is currently in his second term as vice president of the group.
Many members responded to LinkedIn’s publication by Mrs. Konikoff with frustration and anger.
Claire Autonce, a appraiser in North Carolina that served at the National Board of the 2019 Evaluation Institute to 2022, requested the “Immediate Resignation or Termination” of Mr. Steinley.
“It’s time for Craig to resign or eliminated for the good of the Evaluation Institute,” he said. “The continuous inaction of the Board against repeated complaints and concerns of the staff and the concerns are in complicity, if we are not yet there.”
A few hours after the Times publication a petition was published, it began to circulate on Change.org asking for the elimination of Mr. Steinley. As or Monday afternoon, he had at least 260 signatures.