Whether they’re finalizing major deals, developing properties or providing
advice, counsel or products and services, the women profiled here (alphabetically)
are indeed movers and shakers on the New Jersey commercial real estate scene,
beginning with the half-dozen spotlighted on these opening pages….
LINDA ARONSON
Executive Vice
President/Director
of NJ Operations
Jones Lang LaSalle
Linda Aronson re-joined JLL, where she
has spent the majority of her 20-year
career, earlier this year, and has been
given the responsibility of generating
regional business, strategic planning
and overseeing property management
and brokerage personnel as one of the
only women in New Jersey responsible
for managing the local operations of a commercial real estate office.
“She is already making a dramatic impression on the market with the
growth of the New Jersey team,” observes a colleague.
Aronson has significant experience in institutional property management and leasing, and corporate facility management. She’s
worked mostly with Fortune 500 clients, including JPMorgan, UBS,
Prudential, AT&T, Deutsche Bank and multiple pension funds.
In her career, she previously held such titles as SVP/regional operations
and SVP/finance director. Earlier duties included management of four
million sf of commercial property in the eastern U.S. for a corporate client
in New Jersey; third-party management and leasing of multiple downtown office buildings in Washington, DC and New Jersey; and oversight
of a 136-acre business park encompassing nine buildings in Cincinnati.
In terms of growing JLL’s business, expanding the industrial market
presence is a focus. And in general, “her impact has already been
very recognizable in the state, and has continued Jones Lang LaSalle’s
dramatic growth in New Jersey,” a colleague observes. “She has
brought in numerous brokerage professionals, all with diverse backgrounds and extensive industry experience.”
32 | Real Estate NEW JERSEY | December 2007
KIMBERLY BRENNAN
Managing Director,
New Jersey Operations
Cushman & Wakefield
Kim Brennan joined C&W in May 2005 as
managing director, after a dozen years at
CBRE in that firm’s Midtown Manhattan
office. Based in C&W’s East Rutherford
office, she works in partnership with the
firm’s area leader to provide critical leadership and direction for the entire region
which, in New Jersey, involves three offices.
In this capacity, she manages brokerage
and business line staff and administrative functions, and has the
responsibility for the staff mentoring, training and development program. Brennan is also deeply involved with strategic planning,
including mapping new business-development initiatives, developing
targeted client strategies and identifying cross-selling opportunities.
“Kim possesses a keen understanding of the complexities of real estate
needs and transaction mechanics, and has a track record of guiding sales
personnel in completion of transactions,” says a colleague. Indeed, she
is credited for her coaching role for more than half of the firm’s recent
deal volume, including being involved in more than 300 deals last year.
One of Brennan’s first moves after joining C&W in 2005 was the
launch of the new Junior Executive in Training (JET) program, which
she considers her most important accomplishment to date. JET hires
have from zero to five years’ experience, and she recruited 17 young
professionals into the program in 2006 and 2007.
“This program is training the next generation of brokers,” Brennan
says. “Gone is the ‘street broker’ of yesteryear, and in its place is a
functional, full-service real estate advisor.”
Brennan is also active and holds various positions with the BOMA
Research Council, AMA International and ICREW/NJ.
