Working for a development company during college helped instill in Zabell an appreciation for the fast-paced environment of commercial real estate. At Developers Diversified, he has consistently been chosen to spearhead high-profile projects, beginning with his involvement in the leasing and disposition of the company’s portfolio of 225 former Service Merchandise properties. Prior to his promotion a year ago, Zabell was charged with the leasing of a $1.2-billion, five-million-squarefoot portfolio, comprising 15 shopping centers in Puerto Rico.

As managing principal of Fox Architects, Yeh oversees the operational, financial and facilities management of the Washington, DC office, as well as strategic planning, budgeting, hiring, recruiting and business development for the firm. He has been in this position for the past four years of his six-year industry career. Yeh has won a number of awards, including a 2009 IIDA Gold Award for interior design, the Washington Building Congress Craftsmanship Award and the NAIOP Award of Excellence in 2003, 2007 and 2009. “I hope to provide the commercial real estate industry with design solutions that are artistically satisfying, while supporting each individual client’s business goals,” he says.

Wang, whose grandfather was a part of the first generation of developers in modern China, was born into a real estate family. “I believe good real estate can improve the quality of people’s lives and drive the whole economy,” he says. Raising a private equity fund to invest in China’s commercial real estate is one of Wang’s overall career goals. For now, he provides vital macroeconomic financial analysis and risk assessment for real estate acquisitions and dispositions. Wang has also acquired his share of assets, including 1522 K St., an 80,000-square-foot office building in Washington, DC.

When Vaz moved to the US from Brazil in 1998, he worked seven days a week to put himself through Harvard at night. After a year of residential investing in Boston, he set out to Dallas in 2007 and bought his first 208-unit property the following March. Since then, Vaz has closed on nine multifamily properties, comprised of 1,673 units and valued at approximately $37 million. Founded in 2008, the Conti Organization targets 150-plus-unit class B and C residential assets for repositioning. Vaz, who is responsible for syndicating, raising capital and overseeing the management companies for his properties, aims to acquire 10,000 units this year.

Within just a year at Cassidy & Pinkard Colliers, Tyroler has carved out a position as the go-to sustainability expert at the firm. A project manger on LEED developments, he has created comprehensive and innovative tools that have assisted teams through the certification process. Tyroler has supervised more than three million square feet of LEED projects in various stages of certification and was the first employee to submit a LEED EB application with the US Green Buildings Council. Tyroler, who has a Bachelors in finance and a Masters in real estate, says, “I utilize my finance background to help others realize the business opportunities available by pursuing sustainable practices in commercial buildings.”

Schuster, who specializes in retail, has arranged more than 170 leases totaling in excess of two million square feet during his career. Among his notable deals are Old Navy’s renewal for 64,000 square feet at 610 Sixth Ave. and securing multiple tenants for 180,000 square feet of retail space at 101 Warren St. in Manhattan. Schuster has been on a steady trajectory since joining Robert K. Futterman & Associates in 2001, having been promoted seven times. This past November, he was advanced to his current role as EVP. Schuster was one of the firm’s top five revenue producers from 2006 to 2008 and is anticipated to maintain this position in 2009.

Having left Boulder Net Lease Funds LLC in March, Rothbart is forming a company that will allow TICs and other distressed owners to take advantage of IRS tax-deferral alternatives while avoiding foreclosure. At Boulder, he held a variety of positions, including chief financial officer and chief operating officer. Over the course of his six-year career, Rothbart has raised $175 million in equity capital commitments in two separate investment funds and acquired $135 million in singletenant office and industrial assets. Beyond launching his latest venture, Rothbart plans to one day start a private equity fund to acquire all commercial property types.

Roberts, whose career spans seven years, focuses on the origination and placement of financing, including senior debt, mezzanine, preferred equity and joint venture equity for clients across the country. He has originated and closed more than $800 million in financing assignments in the past five years. In the current lending environment, he has managed to bring new lending sources to the market for clients, coming up with creative solutions to finance assets. Roberts also volunteers with a number of nonprofit organizations including Kids Across Africa, Harvest Home and Calvary Church.

Some eight years ago, Nicholson’s father, a veteran at Grubb, offered his son a chance to learn the family business. “He taught me what to look for in buildings, how to treat clients and how to succeed,” says Nicholson, who’s been pretty successful at carving out his own niche in the industry. Since 2002, he has completed industrial sales and lease transactions with a total consideration in excess of $500 million. Nicholson has qualified for Circle of Excellence, honoring the top 6% of brokers at Grubb nationwide, since 2005. During that period, he has been one of the company’s top 10 industrial brokers nationally, and in Houston, one of the top five agents.

While studying business at the University of Texas, an 18-year-old Morris was leasing space for the Weitzman Group on his days off from school. He’s come a long way since then. For the past five years, he has averaged 45 leases a year at Studley, making him one of the most productive brokers in the Southwest. Morris has leased 12 million square feet, completing more than 400 transactions over the course of his career. On his off hours, Morris was a founding board member and treasurer for Friends for Life, a 350-member nonprofit organization for Memorial Hermann Children’s Hospital and Life Flight medical services. He also serves on the advisory board of Carousel, a charitable organization created to benefit the Texas Children’s Hospital cancer center.

In his five years in the business, Millburn has brokered 51 multifamily transactions totaling more than $700 million. Last April, he represented a publicly traded REIT in the $120-million disposition of a 1,511-unit portfolio, reportedly the largest sale on record for any multifamily transaction in Utah. Millburn was recognized as ARA Utah’s top sales agent in 2006, 2007 and 2008; and had the highest transaction volume for any ARA sales agent in the nation for the first quarter of this year. Ultimately, Millburn wants to manage his own real estate fund, with the aim of owning 10,000 apartment units nationwide.

An encounter with a commercial real estate appraiser some 11 years ago sparked an interest in McCall that has led to a successful career as an asset manager. “I was hooked from day one,” she says. “Every project is different. No outcome is ever the same; nothing is textbook.” In the past five years at Wells, McCall has been responsible for leasing more than 2.5 million square feet within the company’s portfolio. She oversees the financial performance of approximately 18 office and industrial buildings totaling five million square feet in Georgia, Alabama and Pennsylvania. McCall also played an instrumental role negotiating the 15-year lease for Westinghouse Electric Co.’s 800,000-square-foot campus in Cranberry, PA in 2007.

During law school, Mahone realized that she much preferred the collaborative spirit of transactional negotiations than the adversarial nature of litigation. Since then, she has built her 10-year career representing institutional and entrepreneurial clients on acquisitions, dispositions and leasing deals throughout the country. Among her many transactions, Mahone worked with a team of attorneys at Levenfeld Pearlstein on the 2007 acquisition of the Presidential Towers, a 2,346-unit residential complex in Chicago, for $470 million. During her off time, Mahone is an active member of Commercial Real Estate Women, serving as the co-chair of CREW Careers, an initiative to acclimate teenage girls to the commercial real estate industry.

Levin has helped manage and acquire some $1 billion worth of commercial property over the course of her nine-year career. Having launched Intercontinental’s West Coast branch in 2007, she is charged with running its daily operations, covering all property types from Denver to Hawaii. “I have always had a passion for both the financial components as well as the relationship-building aspects that are critical to success in this business,” says Levin, who hopes to continue growing the company’s presence in the western region. Long term, she sees herself owning and operating real estate, and staying very active in the property community.

As vice president for the past five years, Lampi oversees Inland’s capital-raising initiatives, developing the marketing strategy and managing the due diligence process for each new offering. Since joining the company in 2002, he has led the charge in raising some $1 billion of equity from private investors. This represents a portfolio size of roughly 100 properties with an aggregate value of more than $2 billion. Lampi is also credited with the expansion of Inland’s broker-dealer selling group as well as the development of an electronic due diligence process for distributing offering materials. His ultimate goal is to one day manage the operations of a real estate investment firm.

After working at Meridian Capital Group, where he managed 50 people in the New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Illinois offices, Katz struck out on his own several months ago to launch a new brokerage and advisory firm. During his 15-year career, Katz has placed more than $10 billion worth of commercial loans, including an $800-million acquisition loan for 5,000 units in New York City and a $76-million construction loan for a mixed-use development in New Jersey. For now, his main goal is to build Deerwood into a reputable and respected firm that adds value to its clients.

“It’s gratifying to know that I have the ability to play a role in shaping the Manhattan skyline,” says Johnson. The investment sales specialist is focused on sourcing deals and procuring well-capitalized buyers to purchase investment-grade properties throughout New York City. Johnson joined Eastern Consolidated four years ago and became one of the youngest associates named director at the age of 24. During his tenure, Johnson has negotiated $500 million in sales, including the disposition of 112 Ninth Ave. for $31.4 million, which equated to more than 21 times the gross rent roll.

Hillman, a LEED AP specializing in sustainability at Jones Lang LaSalle, has been instrumental in five completed or current LEED EB certifications with an aggregate consideration of 3.2 million square feet. Most notable is the recent LEED Platinum certification of McDonald’s 704,000-square-foot headquarters in Oakbrook, IL. In the field for the past six years, Hillman sits on the Green Advisory Board for the City of Chicago Chamber of Commerce and the Environmental Committee for the Chicago 2016 Olympic bid. Not only is she a member of Mensa, she also helped write and review the 2009 LEED AP exam for the Green Building Certification Institute.

Herrold led the launch of Stan Johnson Co.’s first regional office outside of Tulsa, with the opening of its Houston location last September. He is now charged with growing that branch by recruiting, hiring and training new brokers, and building up brokerage teams to penetrate the market. Herrold has been one of the company’s top producers since coming on board in 2003. He has played an instrumental role in closing nearly 200 single-tenant transactions valued in excess of $1.6 billion. With a passion for marketing, business development and relationship building, Herrold says real estate is a perfect fit for him.

In the two years Hall has been with Passco Cos., he has assisted the firm in acquiring $330 million worth of assets. After only five months at the company, he was promoted from financial analyst to acquisition manager. As such, he is responsible for managing and developing Passco’s acquisition pipeline. Hall, who has been in the business for six years, negotiates purchases of core and value-add properties, conducts due diligence on properties and creates financial models to analyze opportunities.

“Being creative and thinking of new development techniques is what makes this industry exciting, rewarding and challenging,” says Gonzalez. He is responsible for the acquisition and entitlement of land for both third-party real estate projects and the Flagler Development Group’s holdings from Jacksonville to South Florida. Gonzalez has helped to obtain the entitlement for Beacon Commons, a mixed-use development consisting of 600,000 square feet of retail, 250 hotel rooms, 190,000 square feet of office space and 282 residential units in Doral, FL. He says, “Projects that are signature pieces in the commercial real estate landscape of Florida will enhance our profession and have a lasting impression.”

Daitch’s 10 years in the industry has taught him that “hard work, creative thinking and perseverance can overcome virtually all of the obstacles commercial real estate professionals face on a daily basis, including challenging economic issues.” Throughout his career, Daitch has arranged the sale of 12,000 apartment units in 72 properties across the US. He brokers multifamily investment sales nationwide, specializing in the sale of government subsidized-multifamily units, and is a director in Marcus & Millichap’s National Multi Housing Group.

In her two-and-a-half years at MayfieldGentry Realty Advisors LLC, Curry has been promoted twice and completed more than 180,000 square feet of leasing transactions. During that time, she has also worked on the acquisition of five assets, totaling 1.2 million square feet. Curry currently manages the firm’s largest portfolio, totaling 1.6 million square feet, and services such clients as the State of Michigan, the City of Detroit General Retirement System and the Detroit Police and Fire Retirement System. Long term, she wants to partner with local municipalities to drive revitalization in the region by monitoring market trends and repositioning assets.

With over 10 years of experience, Connelly serves as a member of his region’s executive management team and oversees CB Richard Ellis’ Occupier Practice Group. During the Trammell Crow acquisition, he emerged as a leader in spearheading the integration in Schaumburg, where both firms operated. Chicago was one of CBRE’s top three integration markets and Connelly helped retain 85% of Trammell’s revenue and nearly 100% of its clients. He jointly controls operations in the area, with 100 to 750 employees that report directly to him. Connelly is also credited with producing a significant amount of annual revenue—up 67% from 2004—for the firm.

A mere two years into the field, Conn has led the charge in increasing Coldwell Banker Commercial Rick Canup Realtors’ market share for total industrial listings from zero to more than 55% today. He received the 2008 Coldwell Banker Commercial Mentor/Protégé Award along with his mentor, Rick Canup. Conn was ranked the top company commercial sales agent for the first two months of this year, working with private investors and clients such as the State of Texas. In his off time, he is involved in Big Brothers Big Sisters and Habitat for Humanity.

In his nine years with Colliers ABR, Bellwood has been involved in office leasing deals totaling more than 2.1 million square feet. Among his many notable transactions is the United Federation of Teachers’ leasing of 740,000 square feet at 50 and 52 Broadway in Manhattan, and Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessy’s absorption of all 86,000 square feet at 598 Madison Ave. For Bellwood, real estate is a family affair. “My uncle spent his career on the corporate real estate side of the business and his ability to develop and maintain a successful career was and continues to be an inspiration to me,” he relates.

Named partner in January, Azulay represents an array of clients in the acquisition, financing, development, leasing and disposition of all property types. The majority of her transactions are valued in excess of $100 million, with some valued at more than $1 billion. Azulay participates in the firm’s pro bono initiative with the Northwestern University School of Law’s Center on Wrongful Convictions. Going forward, she hopes to expand her practice at DLA. “As a part of that growth,” she says, “I look forward to reaching more people through my pro bono efforts, creating a lasting impact far beyond what I’m accomplishing in the real estate industry.”

“Whether I was five years old and wanted to be a construction worker or eight years old and wanted to be an architect, my interests have always focused on real estate,” says Budman. These days he oversees the acquisition, disposition and financing of investments nationwide for StarPoint Properties LLC and its affiliates. Budman, who has been in the industry for eight years, has completed more than $1 billion in acquisitions and oversaw the expansion of the company’s portfolio. He opened the company’s first satellite office in Dallas and is a founding member of both StarPoint Commercial Properties and ExchangePoint Properties.

Recently elevated from vice president to director, Barthmaier is now responsible for sourcing, analyzing, structuring, negotiating and financing long-term sale-leaseback investments. She played a key role in W.P. Carey & Co.’s $225-million buy of 21 floors occupied by the New York Times in the newspaper’s 52-story Manhattan headquarters building. Barthmaier, who entered the business six years ago, says, “The unsettled economic environment creates challenges and opportunities, including how to make the most of our assets through a combination of the appropriate financing, design and use of real estate-related resources.” At her alma mater, the University of Pennsylvania, Barthmaier has established a scholarship to assist students conducting research or involved with study programs.

Adams, who has been in the industry for eight years, is the youngest vice president in the history of Century Equities Inc. As such, he is charged with sale-leaseback origination, net-lease acquisitions, portfolio dispositions, new deal financing, portfolio financing and raising new equity. Adams has been published eight times on sale-leaseback, 1031 exchanges and historic tax credits. Outside the business, he serves as vice chairman of the Ohio Valley Young Life Board and camp director of the C3 Soccer Camp. Adams wants to continue to grow Century Equities into the leading sale-leaseback provider for middle- and lower-market firms.