Douglas Elliman now Insignia Douglas Elliman.

Insignia Financial Group, Inc. announced that its New York residential brokerage subsidiary, Douglas Elliman, is changing its name to Insignia Douglas Elliman, LLC.

The name change - announced jointly by Insignia Chairman & CEO Andrew L. Farkas and Insignia Douglas Elliman Chairman & CEO Alan J. Rogers -- was unveiled at a company-wide meeting held at the New York Marriott Marquis.

"The new name underlines Douglas Elliman's integral position within one of the world's largest and most dynamic real estate services organizations," said Rogers. "By tapping Insignia's vast resources both globally and locally, we will offer enhanced services to New York's home-buying public as well as increased support for our brokerage team throughout the metropolitan New York area."

Insignia Douglas Elliman will have increased access to Insignia's global real estate services platform, which includes more than 8,000 professionals on a worldwide basis. Internationally, Insignia has 27 offices in the United Kingdom, continental Europe, Asia and Latin America The international offices will serve as a business-generating source for Insignia Douglas Elliman's brokerage professionals.

The closer ties will enable Insignia Douglas Elliman to forge synergies with Insignia's other market-leading subsidiaries in New York City, including Insignia Residential Group, the city's largest manager of cooperative and condominium apartments, and Insignia/ESG, the City's largest commercial real estate brokerage company.

"Insignia is the quintessential New York real estate company and the only one capable of providing premier services across the full spectrum of residential and commercial real estate," said Farkas. "This unique, unrivaled market position will open up new avenues of opportunity and business referrals for our professionals at Insignia Douglas Elliman."

A broker-specialist program will be launched, with Insignia Douglas Elliman brokers assigned to track market activity at each of the more than 300 apartment buildings managed by Insignia Residential. Another new program, Corporate Connect, will afford increased opportunities for Insignia Douglas Elliman to perform relocation services for the corporate clients of Insignia/ESG.

Insignia Douglas Elliman has also formed a global board of directors. The members include: chairman Alan Rogers, vice chairman Mary Ann Tighe, vice chairman Adam Gilbert, Alan Froggatt, Jim O'Connor, Simon Robinson, Steve Ross, Stephen Siegel and Ron Uretta.

Many of these people hold senior executive positions at companies throughout the Insignia family: Tighe is vice chairman of Insignia/ESG; Gilbert is general counsel of Insignia Financial Group; Froggatt is chief executive officer of Insignia's United Kingdom and European operations; Robinson is chief executive officer of Insignia's Asian operations; O'Connor is executive managing director of Insignia Residential Group; Siegel is president of Insignia Financial Group and chairman and chief executive officer of Insignia/ESG, and Uretta is chief operating officer of Insignia Financial Group and president of Insignia/ESG. These executives will continue in their present roles in addition to having joined the Insignia Douglas Elliman Board.

Insignia Douglas Elliman has also promoted two senior executives: Paul Purcell, managing director and chief operating officer, has been named president, and Kathy Braddock, managing director and general sales manager, has been named executive managing director. In addition, Daniel Kaplan has been named chief financial officer of Insignia Douglas Elliman.

As part of the name change, Insignia Douglas Elliman has adopted Insignia's corporate branding architecture. All Insignia Douglas Elliman marketing materials and stationery will now don the blue Insignia "i" logo -- affording a contemporary image for a venerable company that traces its leadership in New York City residential real estate to 1911.