Last week, the former executive director of Pacific Union, Dan Cronan, left to lead the local office of Kidder Mathews instead. The new executive director at Pacific Union is Jerry Rampelberg, an experienced broker and appraiser who was already with the firm; he was not immediately available Friday for comment.

[IMGCAP(2)]"San Francisco is a very tough market to break into; because of Kidder Mathews' attractive platform and support system for their brokers, they are gaining some serious traction," says Tobin, who helped Pacific Union's commercial division in 1986 and represents many media companies and professional services firms. "We like their energy and culture, and this is a great opportunity for us to help build their office specialty group in San Francisco."

Seattle-based Kidder Mathews, the largest independent real estate services firm in Washington State with five offices, entered the Northern California market in 2006 and now has three offices filled with 55 brokers, making it one of the largest independent brokerage firms on the West Coast. The company is known for its platform, which offers executives, managers and top brokerage professionals the opportunity to own stock in the company and lets them keep 90% of the commission once they top $125,000 in revenue.

[IMGCAP(3)]"We have…built a platform that is extremely attractive to brokers," Kidder Mathews executive VP and managing partner Steve Bouret said in January, after it lured veteran Silicon Valley broker Bruce Horton out of a brief retirement to be a senior vice president in its Santa Clara office.

In March, Kidder Mathews gained life science real estate broker Mary Hines and her partner Jennifer Berrueta, who left Cresa Partners for GVA's Redwood Shores office. Hines, an executive vice president with Cresa, is now a senior vice president with GVA/KM .

[IMGCAP(4)]The addition of Cronan, who has 24 years of San Francisco brokerage experience, allows Kidder Mathews managing partners Bouret and Gregg Domanico to focus on the Redwood Shores office, which is their home office. Heretofore, they had been splitting their time between the two offices.

The addition of Tobin, Raggio and Picciani expands the San Francisco office to 26 brokers. Raggio has been in the San Francisco market for 30 years. Prior to Pacific Union he spent more than a decade with CB Richard Ellis.

"No one is doing what [GVA/Kidder Mathews is] doing," Raggio says, "and they've proven that it's going to work here too."

That being said, not everyone wants to be there. Count Stephen Shain, a senior broker at Pacific Union and a good friend of Cronan, as one of them.

"[Dan] and I are close and will continue to be that way," he says. "[Dan] did what he wanted to do and it's a great choice for him. I'm satisfied with the company I'm with."