Steve Ernst is an industry veteran in the commercial real estate arena with more than 36 years of experience and has been with the Cushman & Wakefield organization and legacy companies for 24 years. He serves a leader role in the company’s Global Occupier Services group’s Tampa-based team, which team orchestrates national accounts with top-flight companies such as Aetna, CVS, Voya, Citizens Bank, PNC Bank, PwC, iHeartMedia, Stanley Black & Decker, Liberty Mutual, State Farm, Citi, Newell Brands, and The Hanover Insurance Group. Steve’s focus as an Executive Director is on Transaction Management, Portfolio Strategy, team building and client relations. In addition to performing client transaction management services, he leads a team of transaction managers and financial analysts for oversight quality control, career training and mentoring. Steve’s background as a former owner-developer and landlord makes him unique when representing space occupiers. He understands the full development cycle and ownership processes including visioning, finance underwriting, development, asset & property management, and lease-up agendas. This set of attributes provides a pure perspective of the ownership / landlord side, which enables effective negotiations, winning strategies, and solutions for the client.

Steve also works on the Tampa GOS “Large Deal” team, leading or playing a key role in large, complex transactions, such as Headquarters or Regional Headquarters assignments, build-to-suit transactions, sale-leasebacks, etc. Some of Steve’s headquarter assignments include PwC (NYC), Voya (NYC), Aetna (NYC), Citizens Bank (Providence, RI), Stanley Convergent Security (Indianapolis, IN) and several other regional offices build-to-suit transactions across the country.

A native New Englander, born and raised in Clinton, MA, Steve graduated from Harvard University with a degree in Economics. Steve was an All-Ivy running back for the storied Harvard football program. He started his career at the national real estate development firms of Boston-based Cabot, Cabot & Forbes and Towermarc Corporation, before joining CLW Real Estate Services Group / Cassidy Turley / DTZ -- the legacy firms of Cushman & Wakefield. Steve has been a resident of Tampa, Florida for more than 25 years and he and wife Jeanine have four children.

Education

• Bachelor of Arts in Economics, Harvard University