by Ronald Genovese, Founder and Designated Broker at GPE Commercial Advisors
Recently, more and more articles are emerging with titles and taglines that shed light on commercial real estate’s male dominated workforce, causing us to acknowledge that the old ideology is still part of our industry today.
GlobeSt.com published an article in April 2014, entitled “Why Women in Commercial Real Estate are job hunting.” The author, Carrie Rossenfeld, has worked in commercial real estate for more than 30 years and stated that during this time very little has changed when it comes to involving women in our industry. According to various other news sources, only 20 percent of the commercial real estate workforce are women, and 57 percent of those women are actively involved in a job search. I believe the percentage of women working in commercial real estate in the Phoenix Metro area is likely well below the 20 percent average.
Why are female CRE brokers actively seeking a new brokerage?
1. Bypassed for promotion
2. Lack of mentorship or support from their organization
3. Fewer opportunities offered to them
Like the Globe Street author, I have been in commercial real estate in the Phoenix area for more than 30 years and I agree that little has really changed. However, we here at GPE Commercial Advisors have made a concentrated effort over the years to change that reality. Fifty percent of our brokers are women and well over 50 percent in our company are women. I believe we are the only local firm to have an all-female healthcare investment group that has achieved great success over the years. Our corporate board of directors has five positions, three of which are held by women. We buck the trend in our industry and are again ranked number one this year by Ranking Arizona for commercial brokerage in our size category.
The impact women have had on our firm and in the Phoenix marketplace over the years is proof that they have a significant role in this industry. The women at GPE deserve, and in fact do receive, the recognition many women have failed to garner from our industry as a whole. While other commercial real estate firms lag behind, GPE is proud to be ahead of the curve when it comes to seeing the importance of female brokers in our business.
