ORLANDO—We've looked at some of the powerful commercial real estate women in Miami. We've looked at some of the superstar females in Atlanta. But what about Central Florida?

In the Women of Influence: Southeast series in our sister publication Real Estate Forum, we identified three strategic personalities on Central Florida's commercial real estate scene. My colleague Carrie Rosenfeld rounded them up.

Mercedes Angell, senior director, Cushman and Wakefield of Florida in Tampa

A 20-year veteran of the commercial real estate industry, Angell provides clients with a variety of services. In fact, it's a laundry list: competitive positioning of properties, establishing pricing to maximize rates, designing and implementing marketing plans to maximize absorption, analyzing the financial aspects of prospective leases, coordinating team members and maintaining timely and consistent activity reports.

Angell represents landlords and building owners with assets ranging from class A office buildings to single-story, garden-style office parks throughout the Tampa Bay market and is responsible for a portfolio of office parks totaling more than 2.4 million square feet. In 2014, she participated in $564 million of commercial real estate transactions totaling nearly 6.5 million square feet.

Angell says women are making great strides in the commercial real estate industry and taking greater chances with their careers. They are willing to take on bigger risks for the larger rewards at the end.

Sandy Hostetter, president, CNL Bank in Orlando

Hostetter has been in the banking and commercial lending environment for 30-plus years and is considered an icon in the Central Florida real estate market, not only for her industry achievements, but also her commitment to the community. A recipient of numerous awards for women in business, she is passionate about mentoring young professionals.

She's just as passionate about providing quality housing options for the poor and homeless. Hostetter has been involved in the affordable housing/coalition for the homeless during much of her career and has served, or is currently serving, as a board member with Central Florida YMCA, University of Florida's Bergstrom Center for Real Estate Studies, Winter Park Health Foundation, Foundation for Foster Children and the Heart of Florida United Way, among others. Hostetter is currently on the boards of Florida Hospital and Orlando Regional Medical Center.

Krone Weidler, associate vice president of Investments at Marcus & Millichap in Tampa

Weidler is a senior housing specialist with M&M of Tampa and has more than 25 years of experience in major residential and healthcare corporations. Recruited by the firm in 2004 as an assisted living specialist, she has been responsible for the disposition of more than 1,000 beds with an aggregate value of more than $50 million, and she has worked with and represented buyers with a total asset value of more than $1 billion.

Weidler's efforts allowed the firm to deploy into a product type in which it was not involved—seniors housing/ALF/medical office and healthcare in Florida. She has earned more than 20% market share for transactions within this specialty niche, owned by private individual investors.

She says women are taking advantage of opportunities to “lean in” and lead within their firms, particularly with building teams around their product type. This has become a vehicle, particularly at MMI, to help grow their leadership skills within their firm and community.