Real Perspectives Podcast

Today’s conversation takes us to Seattle, where we talk to Alison Beddard, the new Managing Principal of the Seattle and Bellevue offices, and the rest of the state of Washington for that matter, of Cushman & Wakefield. Alison’s path to leadership was not a straight line, and it often isn’t, but her story of self-confidence and ability to lead a successful organization stood out, and now it is...

Few people have had an impact on the industry as deep and as broad as our next guest. Michael Casolo , who today serves as the Global Chief Revenue Officer for Unispace , has spent 25 years working in an industry that changed very little over that time. Today, however, it’s an industry ripe for change and disruption, the good kind, and he’s helping lead the charge of that evolution.

Jill Jago’s path to architecture and workplace strategy was not a straight line from one opportunity to the next, and it rarely is. Her understanding of the trends and what shapes a successful organization, however, has been deeply impacted by her experience and work throughout the engineering and architecture world that she has called home for years. Today, she leads the Advance Strategy group at...

Today’s conversation is with Jim Clewlow , the Chief Investment Officer of CenterPoint, one of the nation’s largest and most influential industrial commercial real estate investors and developers. Jim’s road to CenterPoint was an improbable one. He started in the commercial real estate industry after graduating from the University of Illinois and taking a research job with CBRE. He wanted to becom...

Today’s conversation takes us to Los Angels where we talk to Hal Pohl, the Head of West Coast Acquisitions at Haven Capital . Hal has a long-standing experience in the industry, but Haven Capital is a newcomer to commercial real estate market, and they are trying to take a somewhat niche opportunity and bring it to the mainstream of the industry. How Haven Capital is looking to do that is the subj...

Today’s conversation is with Lauren Seaver , she is the President of Opportunity Housing Group , an entity that was founded out the Blake Griggs Properties enterprise and based in Danville, California.  Lauren recently helped launch Opportunity Housing Group as way to address much-needed middle-income housing across California, a niche segment of the vast multifamily real estate industry sector, b...

We speak today with Wayne Berger , the Chief Executive Officer of the Americas for IWG - also known as International Workspace Group or the company that owns Regus and another dozen or so companies around the workspace environment. Wayne’s perspective on the workspace and occupier industry is unique but also broad. While IWG is based in Europe. Wayne’s organizations spans North and South America....

Ashley Gidel’s involvement with a company her father and partner started began at an early age. A family business that grew out of a necessity for extra work, the two founders were teachers in need of extra cash in the summer, Gidel & Kocal today is a well-known construction business serving the greater Bay Area in a number of sectors. Ashley just became the company’s President and looks to ch...

Prior to co-founding Hamilton Zanze in 2001, Mark Hamilton sponsored the acquisition, ownership, and development of nearly 40 properties in the Bay Area. Mark’s main focus has always been locating value-add properties in changing urban neighborhoods and then re-working them into higher-quality buildings with higher incomes, improved tenant profiles, and higher resale values.  Mark has considerable...

Retail veteran James Chung launched the econic company in 2021 with a singular goal in mind: to provide seamless, bespoke services to landlords and tenants alike in a landscape unlike any other in recent memory. To do that, he draws on a fierce work ethic, an innate knowledge of the commercial real estate landscape, and an uncanny ability to close deals in even the most challenging market conditio...

Cyrus Sanandaji is the founder and managing director of Presidio Bay Ventures , a commercial real estate investment and development firm focused on the design, construction and long-term operation of a diverse set of product types for private and public sector tenants across the United States.  Headquartered in San Francisco, Presidio Bay's primary expertise is in new construction and major renova...

On the show today, we have the honor to speak with Patrick MacLeamy , who led global architecture and engineering firm HOK from its San Francisco office. Patrick started at the firm as a junior designer and eventually became its CEO, witnessing the firm’s growth from a single midwestern office to 27 locations across the globe offering architecture, interiors, engineering, planning and more.   MacL...

You may not know this yet, but Kristina Lawson and Jennifer Martinez are the future of law. Not in a way that introduces some new legal theory or innovation in code, but in a way a law firm is run. Kristina Lawson recently became the managing partner of San Francisco-based Hanson Bridgett , and one of her initiatives was to task Jennifer Martinez with running the diversity, equity and inclusion in...

Paul Ferro is a co-founder, principal, and Chief Executive Officer at Form4 Architecture. Committed to creating architecture that is rational, empowering and dynamic, Paul’s expertise ranges from office shells and interiors, athletic facilities, mixed-use, churches, and residential. Paul maintains his dedication to clients and the success of projects through his direct involvement with the design...

James Shannon has a storied career as an entrepreneur and technology leader. He possesses a deep passion for applying his knowledge and experience to create innovative and inspiring products. His experience includes the development of large-scale cloud services, award-winning mobile apps, integrated smart devices and cutting-edge consumer hardware for leading global brands. James leads the vision...

Murphy McCullough is the regional manager for commercial development in Skanska’s Seattle office, where he has worked for the past decade. He’s delivered Skanska’s first development projects in the region, including the urban-inspired apartments at Alley 111 in Bellevue, the Brooks Sports headquarters and flagship store at Stone34 in Fremont, and Tommy Bahama’s headquarters at 400 Fairview in Sout...

On today’s podcast, we have the pleasure of talking with Chely Wright , Unispace’s recently minted first Chief Diversity Equity & Inclusion Officer. Chely brings a background that fuses advocacy, business, real estate and communications, and has worked with companies such as Procter & Gamble, Southeastern Grocers and Morgan Stanley to advance their DE&I programs, having established rel...

When Matt Macko and I first met, he was just kicking off the formation of this business in San Francisco, which was going to focus on building more sustainable spaces and buildings. In a similar way, we were also trying to make a name for ourselves in an industry that over the last decade transformed the Bay Area commercial real estate market into one of the most important ones across the world. M...

Julia Weatherspoon is an architectural designer at SmithGroup and current president of the San Francisco Chapter of the National Organization of Minority Architects, ( SF NOMA ) . With a mission to to create more inclusive spaces within design, her projects range from workplace commercial interiors, aviation, community and civic design, and now Higher Education. Julia holds a Bachelors of Architec...

On today’s show, we’re going to do a quick San Francisco commercial real estate market overview, and today, that is brought to you by Zac Monsees . Zac is a vice president at Transwestern in San Francisco, and his team advises on leasing and capital markets transactions throughout the San Francisco Bay Area on behalf on institutional landlords, family trusts and owner-occupiers. Zac joins us today...

Veronica Hinkley Reck is a licensed architect with over 25 years of experience designing award-winning affordable, market-rate and senior housing projects. Veronica brings a particular passion for creating beautiful, sustainable affordable housing that is specific to its context and population and that truly enhances the lives of its residents and their communities.    She founded and ran her own...

Jon Scholes was named President & CEO of Downtown Seattle Association in November of 2014, following six years as the organization’s Vice President of Advocacy & Economic Development. He believes the health of downtown Seattle is critical to a healthy city and region, and he’s led this organization during a time of explosive growth for Seattle and the Pacific Northwest. This provided immen...

Mike Sroka is the co-founder and CEO of San Francisco-based Dealpath , a company that describes itself as a platform that enables smarter deal management in the commercial real estate world. Prior to Dealpath, Mike has spent over a decade growing venture-backed software companies including Fanhood (acq. by FOX), Zynga (NASDAQ: ZNGA) and OneSeason (acq. by Cantor Fitzgerald). He co-founded Dealpath...

Tom Deane serves as the CEO of Project Mark . He has spent 10 years in the Construction Industry working primarily in Cost & Risk Management. He's been involved on a multitude of different projects, from new healthcare facilities to major high-rise developments. He has a bachelor's degree in Quantity Surveying from Limerick Institute of Technology. Noel Brady has taken on the role of Project M...

Jonathan Needell is the president and chief investment officer of Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif.-based Kairos Investment Management , a commercial real estate investment firm focused on acquisition, asset management and development of a mix of property types that over time have invested over $1 billion in more than 12 million square feet of commercial space, including 11,000 multifamily units. Jon...