My Move to Newmark

As a basketball-obsessed pre-teen in the ‘90s, no major motion picture hit as hard as Michael Jordan’s “Space Jam.” The intro scene with a young MJ shooting in his backyard at night played rent-free in my head through middle school, the soundtrack was the first CD I ever purchased, and yes: Kate Havness and I dressed as Bugs and Lola Bunny for Halloween this past October (complete with our own bottles of “Michael’s Secret Stuff”).

As an outsider watching the growth and development of Newmark in the past few years, the easy analogy I’ve fallen back on is a Space Jam reference: who do you think of when you hear about a team scaling dramatically thanks to the talents of some absolute MonStars? The narrative I heard in the market was always one of respect paired with a bit of an ominous undertone and while I have never shied away from competition, I always did absolutely pay attention when I knew I’d be going up against this team.

For almost fourteen years, I’ve been a member of HFF/JLL and I will remain forever grateful for the opportunity Mark Gibson gave me in August 2009 when I was trying to break into real estate during a similarly scary economic time. I moved with the firm from Dallas to Los Angeles in 2014 to help grow and scale our business on the West Coast and up until just over a month ago, I’d never taken a phone call, had a cup of coffee, or went to a single meeting with a recruiter.

That all changed following a discussion with Chad Lavender and a meeting in New York with Rob Griffin , Barry Gosin , Luis Alvarado, and Zack Schnoll and now – just over 30 days later – I signed what for all intents and purposes is a lifetime contract with this incredible team.

Sticking within basketball, John Wooden once said:

“Be more concerned with your character than your reputation, because your character is what you really are while your reputation is merely what others think you are.”

Throughout this process, I have been nothing less than floored as absolute legends in our industry have stepped out from behind their headshots and spent significant, earnest, authentic time with me helping to unpack the global ambitions of my new company while also sharing genuine, personal perspectives on their own life decisions. As I have said to each of them individually, I would not have been able to navigate this process (and certainly not within this timeframe) but for the coffees I had with Kevin Shannon and Nick DiPaolo in El Segundo, David Milestone ’s meeting with me in my backyard, the time I shared with Kevin Donner in the Palisades at Alfred Coffee, breakfast with Jordan Roeschlaub in Greenwich Village, and of course: how could I leave out the David Bromberg concert with Doug and Piper Harmon at the Beacon!

Couple that with calls, texts, and emails from friends old and new like Adam Spies , Dustin Stolly, Steve Golubchik , Nick Kucha , Ryan Maconachy , Andrew Briner , Jimmy Hinton , Ramsey Daya , Mitchell Clarfield , Tony Malk , Rob Hannan , CJ Osbrink, John Jugl , Henry Cassiday , Jack Fraker , Dustin Volz , Stephen Bailey , Chris Murphy , Rick Reeder , Ben Appel , and many, many others that I am sure I am leaving out here and to say that I am humbled and grateful beyond words is a massive understatement.

What the past month has taught me is that Newmark isn’t the MonStars: it’s the Dream Team, and as I embark on the single most significant move in my professional life, I could not be more excited to link arms with my new partners as we tackle the most volatile capital markets environment in a long time.

So with that, I have a favor to ask: if you or a friend / neighbor / college roommate have a need for debt or equity capital on any transaction for any product type across the United States, please call, text, or email me and I will let you know how we can help. My new email is [email protected] and my cell phone is (310) 435-5986.

Thank you all for your friendship, support, and kindness, please forgive me if I take a full 24 hours to get back to you as I am working through it (we are open for business and I will always try to respond within a day!), and I am unbelievably excited for the road ahead.

Have a great weekend everybody and looking forward to speaking with each of you again soon!