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When it comes to the commercial real estate scene in the Southwest, the activity isn't confined to Texas markets. The rest of the region is seeing its fair share of deals, and the area's CRE industry is attracting attention. Here are 20 young professionals who are making a name for themselves in the market.

JESSICA AUSTIN, 32
Assistant Vice President
Bank of Albuquerque
Albuquerque
After spending five years in other areas of banking, Austin redirected her focus to CRE. And after only two years as an assistant VP and lending officer, she has taken charge of a $90-million commercial loan portfolio. Before this promotion, Austin spent several years as a credit analyst, an experience she says gave her the chance to work with an experienced lending team and with clients to gain a better understanding of this area of specialty. In addition to successfully managing the portfolio, Austin is also responsible for $12 million annually in new loan business. Furthermore, in 2014 she led the bank's business development in the El Paso market and exceeded the $25-million goal well before the third quarter ended. Austin is currently working on two $20-million projects, having already closed one and will soon finalize the other. She's also a member of NAIOP's Developing Young Leaders group and is a United Way Employee Campaign chair.

JENNA BORCHERDING, 27
Director
Jokake Cos.
Phoenix
Even with only three years in commercial real estate under her belt, Borcherding has come far. As director of business development at Jokake Construction, she compiles a strategy for each of the company's pursuits and initiatives. In addition, she helps others at the firm understand relevant market and industry trends and guides the team as it looks to expand into new markets. Her efforts have not gone unnoticed. She has already been named NAIOP Arizona Chapter's Developing Leader of the Year and has taken an active role in the organization as a member of its steering committee since 2011. Borcherding has chaired NAIOP's mentoring program for each of the past three years. The need for mentors is something she understands. Borcherding says she surrounds herself with mentors who are experts in their respective fields, and now wants to be a role model for others.

LUCAS BURBANK, 31
Principal and Vice President, Sales
Newmark Grubb ACRES
Salt Lake City
Burbank specializes in the acquisition, disposition and leasing of industrial properties and land. He has been involved in over eight million square feet of sales and leasing transactions and over 350 acres sold since January 2009, totaling over $400 million in value. Burbank and his team represented landlord Reef Bonneville in Utah's largest lease deal of 2011, in which it signed ITT Corp. to 395,000 square feet at the Bonneville Distribution Center in Salt Lake City. He was named a top performer in the market at the CCIM Business Excellence Awards in 2013 and received a CCIM scholarship for 2014. In-house, Burbank was Rookie of the Year in 2009 and Break-Out Agent of the Year in 2012. He is consistently among the highest performing agents in the company and last year Burbank and his team won largest transaction of the year.

CLIFF DAVID, 35                                     STEVE GEBING, 35

Senior Directors and Vice Presidents, Investments
Marcus & Millichap | Institutional Property Advisors
Phoenix
Cliff David and Steve Gebing are making a mark in Phoenix. The duo is on a mission to be the preeminent resource for multifamily disposition services in Arizona of apartment communities with 100 units or more—and they are moving toward that reality. Since January 2012, they have closed 18% of the transactions in the state valued above $30 million. Since January 2013, they have closed 22% of the state's valued above $30 million. And in 2014, they are projected to close 25% of the transactions in the state of Arizona valued above $30 million. All told, they have sold over 9,500 units with a total sales volume of $785 million in the past 24 months, leading to a laundry list of M&M recognitions. Their motto: “A deep commitment to property type and geographical specialization with the ability to tailor a strategy that promotes market transparency and creates real business value for our clients.”

ADRIENNE KAUTZMAN, 35
Vice President, Originations
GE Capital - Franchise Finance
Scottsdale, AZ
Though Kautzman only has been in her position for two years, she leads growth strategies in the indirect real estate sourcing at GE Franchise Finance. She develops third-party debt placement relationships in the hotel sector for construction and stabilized asset financing. Kautzman's largest deal in her current role was a multi-state $36-million debt transaction; she has been involved in over $3 billion in transactions. She is part of the GE Women's Council and has been in the real estate and banking industries for 12 years.

KEVIN LANGE, 34
Commercial Real Estate Broker
Keyser
Scottsdale, AZ
Lange started out his brokerage career at Colliers International, where he won its Rookie of the Year award, and he hasn't slowed down since. After 10 years, he was selected for the most recent “40 Under 40 - Arizona's Most Forward Thinking Business Leaders Under 40” award by Arizona Commercial Magazine. He has now spent more than a decade representing institutional clients on a national and global level within the office, industrial, healthcare and biomedical industries. Prior to joining Keyser, Lange was a director at Cushman & Wakefield's Phoenix office, where he was consistently a top 10 producer. He has participated in the leasing, selling and acquisition of over 8.5 million square feet of space in his career, representing such clients as Maricopa Integrated Health Systems, LaSalle Investment Management, US Bank and many others. Lange now leads Keyser's healthcare division, and also plays a management role in the office, industrial and biomedical divisions. In addition, he manages many corporate leased asset portfolios, including Maricopa County Hospital and all its clinics, medical office buildings and offices.

ALEXANDRA LOYE, 29
Senior Vice President
GPE Commercial Advisors
Phoenix
After just half a decade in the industry, Loye's client list is extensive, with large clients in excess of 25,000 square feet. She worked on national investment sales, local office/medical sales and leasing and in business development for Grubb & Ellis before coming to GPE four years ago. In 2011, Loye's sales volume was $40 million. Currently pursuing her CCIM, Loye is on a two-person team that has some 1.3 million square feet of medical office space listings in the market. In addition to leasing and sales, senior housing site selection and consulting also is in her practice.

KATHLEEN LYNCH, 33
Senior Associate
Gensler
Las Vegas
As a senior associate and studio leader with Gensler in Las Vegas, Kathleen Lynch is making a name for herself in the interior design and project management fields. Most recently, she completed work as the project manager at the SLS Las Vegas Hotel and Casino project, a 2.2 million-square-foot renovation of the historic Sahara Hotel. Her team successfully delivered the project—the largest to open in the city in some time—after three years, without double shifts or overtime from the construction side. It was a feat that's virtually unprecedented for a Las Vegas Strip project. Lynch has also been selected by managers at Gensler to participate in the company's NextGen leadership program.

ROMMIE MOJAHED, 35
Director, Leasing
Sperry Van Ness LLC
Phoenix
Mojahed is part of a powerhouse retail team at Sperry Van Ness and works in both landlord and tenant representation. He represents several national brands in active expansion within Metro Phoenix and stays on top of information that would influence the long-term viability of a property. In the past year, the team represented one of the largest growing direct marketing companies in the US with an expansion totaling over 154,000 square feet in two transactions over six months. Mojahed represents several national brands in active expansion within the Phoenix metro market. He also has taken a property purchased out of foreclosure from over 50% vacant to 100% leased and is working on the redevelopment of a stalled project. Mojahed's transaction volume has ranked him in the top achievers category for the past three years and led to his promotion to director of leasing.

MATT MOONEY, 33
Vice President and Managing Director
Parkway Properties
Tempe, AZ
One of the youngest employees in company history to become vice president, Matt Mooney saw the Phoenix Metro moving toward urbanization in 2011 and felt Parkway Properties had a unique opportunity to assemble a sizable portfolio of office product that could be different than anything else in the area. After executing that vision, rental rates in Parkway's portfolio are the highest in the metro, and the submarket's class A vacancy is among the lowest of any submarket on the West Coast. In the past three years, Mooney has led his team to over $250 million in acquisitions in Downtown Tempe through six separate deals—five of which were off market—and over 40 lease transactions. During that time, the firm also raised rental rates over 30%. That set the stage for Parkway to break ground on the first multi-tenant class A-plus office tower in Phoenix since the last cycle—Hayden Ferry Lakeside III.

BEN PERICH, 28
Retail Advisor
Colliers International
Albuquerque
Ben Perich has only been in the industry five years, but he's already making a significant impact. After launching his career in the heart of the Great Recession, Perich has doubled his revenue production for the past three years and inked several first-to-market transactions for big-brand retail tenants, including Jimmy John's, Eagle Tax and Fiesta Auto Insurance. All told, he represents properties with a market value in excess of $50 million. Perich was awarded the Colliers International New Mexico office award for largest percentage increase in transaction value in 2013 and is active in numerous industry and community associations. His career goals include rising to the top of the New Mexico brokerage community in both production volume and positive impact. Says Perich, “Opportunities will appear and disappear on a shorter and shorter timeline and the most successful will be those that recognize opportunity in the face of adversity and act in a deliberate manner.”

JEFF ROSSI, 35
Senior Director, Tenant Advisory Group
Cushman & Wakefield | Commerce
Salt Lake City
Rossi has consistently been recognized as an industry leader: a CoStar Power Broker from 2009 through 2013, a recipient of the CCIM Business Excellence award  for 2012 and 2013 and a top producer within Cushman & Wakefield | Commerce for five consecutive years. He also serves in a number of leadership positions within his firm's tenant advisory and peer leadership groups. In addition, he's a co-chair of the Young Leaders Group at the Urban Land Institute. Head of a five-person team at C&W | Commerce, Rossi has transacted over $600 million in lease deals during his 13-year career and has represented more than two million square feet of local and national credit occupiers. Rather than focus on price, Rossi is said to instead concern himself with developer ROI, expansion rights and other flexibility needs.

ALON SCHNITZER, 34
Senior Managing Partner
ABI Multifamily
Phoenix
Clients constantly say Shnitzer's real estate knowledge and abilities are well beyond his years. He started out as an intern at Marcus & Millichap and quickly rose through the ranks. After a decade there and then a brief stint at another firm, Schnitzer and two partners started ABI. He is a leader on his Phoenix multifamily transaction team. In 2007, Shnitzer helped Bascom transact its apartment portfolio in what was, at that time, the largest multifamily deal in Phoenix's history. As of this past July, he has completed over $978 million in multifamily projects, representing 15,271 total units in volume. Schnitzer sold a 254-unit, $35 million development project that just had been completed in the city's first pre-sale transaction since the downturn. He plans to grow ABI to have an office in every state, and then go international.

JOSHUA SIMON, 29
President
SimonCRE
Scottsdale, AZ
At 29, Joshua Simon already has 10 years of commercial real estate experience under his belt, working principally in shopping center development, redevelopment and build-to-suit projects. His firm's president, Simon focuses his energy on delivering exceptional service to customers and nurturing client relationships. In addition, he directs every real estate transaction and is solely responsible for securing project financing through debt and equity transactions. Simon is even known to personally guarantee debt to secure financing. Under his influence, SimonCRE has grown from developing and leasing approximately $700,000 of real estate in 2010 to being on target to top $40 million this year.

WILL STRONG, 30
Vice President
Cassidy Turley
Phoenix
Strong has quickly become one of Arizona's top young industrial brokers. He has led several presentations on the future growth of the Phoenix market and e-commerce to city leaders, economic development agencies and industrial developers. Strong's focus and expertise is on the acquisition, disposition and leasing of industrial real estate, back-office properties and land. He has been involved in the lease and sale of over 21 million square feet of industrial space and land with a total consideration in excess of $800 million. Since joining Cassidy Turley in mid-2013, Strong has closed 12.5 million square feet of industrial space with a total consideration in excess of $126 million. He has represented some of the largest industrial owners and tenants in the nation, including RREEF, Prologis, Principal Life Insurance, Industrial Income Trust, IndCor and First Industrial. He began his career in 2009 at the Phoenix office of Cushman and Wakefield, where he was a founding member of the company's national future leaders group.

BRIAN TESKE, 31
Vice President and Producer
NorthMarq Capital
Phoenix
Growing up in the development and management business, Teske has a passion for CRE and always enjoyed working on the finance side of projects. Responsible for structuring debt and equity capital for all types of transactions, Teske works closely with clients, step-by-step, determinedly yielding great results. He has arranged debt for over $40 million in loan volume since 2011. Among his most notable deals was an SBA 7A loan that he arranged for the ground-up construction of a restaurant at the Topock Marina along the Colorado River in 2012.

JENNIFER TINTENFASS, 27
Associate
Steeg Law Firm LLC
New Orleans
After only two years in the industry, Jennifer Tintenfass is a standout in New Orleans because she combines technical, academic excellence with an understanding of the personal, human aspects of a transaction. She handles many aspects of the commercial closings, including representing a client purchasing an office building complex over one million square feet in size. She analyzed over 100 leases as part of that transaction and handled negotiations for the amendment or supplementation of many of those leases. As her career progressed, she assisted in purchase and sale transactions involving residential and commercial properties ranging in value between $500,000 and $10 million. Tintenfass' short-term career goal is to develop the broadest and most comprehensive possible skill set in her field. Long term, she hopes to develop an expertise in zoning and land use law, as well asbecome a partner in a real estate law practice.

SVEN TUSTIN, 34
Vice President
Trammell Crow Co.
Phoenix
Sven Tustin has capitalized on his every experience in eight years with Trammell Crow in Phoenix. From his first position as a project analyst to his current role as a firm vice president, Tustin hasn't backed down from a challenge and, in fact, excels in diverse opportunities. In his current position, he is responsible for sourcing, underwriting and executing development and acquisition projects throughout the Southwest region, with an emphasis on mixed-use and office property types. Over the years, Tustin has overseen the construction of more than one million square feet of projects, with a total construction cost of $150 million.

JACOB WOODWARD, 35
Project Manager and Principal Broker
Wadsworth Development Group
Draper, UT
Raise a cup of coffee to Jacob Woodward, who has played a key role in rolling out Starbucks throughout many Western states. In fact, Woodward has landed nearly $20 million in deals, many of which involved the coffee giant. Woodward owned a boutique commercial real estate firm for seven years and thrived despite the economic downturn. In July 2012, he merged with a larger multi-regional developer, Wadsworth Development Group. “A natural dealmaker,” he has been a long-time member of ICSC and is currently serving as the Next Generation State Chairperson for ICSC in Utah, Idaho and Montana.