Newly created role adds to Starchild’s current responsibility as iGo’s COO as company looks to accelerate growth
TYRONE, PA., Dec. 5, 2023
Today announced that Celeste Starchild has been promoted to President, a newly created role. In addition to maintaining her role as COO, Starchild will be responsible for overseeing iGo’s day-to-day operations with a focus on accelerating the company’s vision to empower independent home inspectors to unlock the full value of inspections for homeowners and real estate investors.
In this new role, Starchild will now lead all of iGo’s business units, excluding iGo Academy, and will oversee Marketing, B2B Sales, Human Resources, Customer Service and Onboarding. She will continue to report to iGo Co-Founder and CEO John Russell, who will direct his efforts to drive the company’s strategy and revenue. Starchild’s promotion is the next step in iGo’s evolution to support the recent growth and rapid expansion of the company.
“Celeste has demonstrated her ability to marry the need to move quickly and identify strategic opportunities in a start-up environment with operational expertise that is essential to building a sustainable business,” Russell said. “As we continue to evolve and implement new strategies that position iGo for accelerated growth, Celeste’s experience leading businesses of all sizes will be instrumental in ensuring we achieve our goals.”
Starchild joined iGo as COO in 2020, bringing 20 years of leadership experience and a track record of success in the areas of product, sales and marketing at companies that have been at the forefront of the real estate industry’s digital transformation. Since joining iGo she has played an integral role in the company’s growth, including its recent $5.5 Million Series A, the acquisitions and subsequent integrations of Repair Pricer and HomeBinder, and rollout of HomeBinder Assistant.
“Owning a home is the American Dream. At the same time, everything about it is harder than it needs to be. iGo is intent on modernizing the homeownership experience by providing home inspectors with a platform that allows them to help consumers simplify every aspect of being a homeowner from scheduling movers to obtaining insurance and ensuring repairs are done cost-effectively and easily,” Starchild said. “With our latest round of funding and recent acquisitions, iGo is at a pivotal point in its growth trajectory and I’m excited to step into this role and bring our vision to life.”
Launched just a month after the close of the acquisitions, HomeBinder Assistant provides home inspection companies with a new set of free products that expand their value to homeowners and to their agents. It leverages elements of Repair Pricer, the AI-powered tool that allows homeowners to use their home inspection to receive accurate repair estimates, and HomeBinder, a leading residential home management platform, and adds a service component to help homebuyers more easily move into their new home.
Prior to joining iGo, Starchild held a number of positions of increasing responsibility at Move, Inc., the operator of Realtor.com. In addition to overseeing the search portal’s data strategy which included the addition of valuable customer information such as property value estimates and flood risk data, she led Move’s professional software business and served as the General Manager of ListHub, a company she was instrumental in growing prior to its acquisition by Move in 2010. Earlier, she served as Vice President of Product and Marketing at Clareity Security, which was acquired by CoreLogic.
Starchild serves on the advisory board of First Street Foundation, a nonprofit focused on using data science to quantify the impact of climate change on homeowners. A recognized leader in the real estate industry, she was recognized as a Woman of Influence by HousingWire in 2019 and she received the Inman Innovator Award in 2015.
About InspectionGo
Founded in Tyrone, Pa. in 2019, iGo is on a mission to revolutionize the home inspection experience by uniting and equipping the community of home inspection companies with a modern technology platform. Through strategic investments and acquisitions, iGo empowers home inspectors to deliver exceptional customer experiences and become industry leaders. Learn more at inspectiongo.com