NEWPORT BEACH, CA—Leadership changes are taking place at Lee & Associates' Newport Beach office. Replacing Steve Jehorek, who is retiring after being president of the division for 22 years, Chris Coyte has been promoted to president/managing director of the division and will focus more on sales and assisting producers' efforts in the market, he tells GlobeSt.com. Also, as we recently reported, 34-year industry veteran Robert Goodmanson has joined the office as SVP and principal, along with Brad Schneider, who joins as senior associate. We spoke with Coyte, who has been with the firm since 1989, and Goodmanson about the changes happening at the office.

GlobeSt.com: What do you hope to accomplish in your new roles with Lee & Associates?

Coyte: With Steve's retirement, we are now looking at things a little bit differently, taking the tools and systems he put in place and carrying them forward. This is a real growth-phase opportunity for renewal and restructuring—that's how we're viewing our office space and the number of producers operating there. We are limited to 46 workstations, including desks and cubicles, and we're looking to get up to about 50 or so people, 10 of which will be working in a virtual platform with no fixed space. Younger people will be the underpinning of our office going forward.

Goodmanson: I was at CBRE for 33-plus years, and I'm happy to be at Lee. I came over here to give myself and my clients more flexibility, due to the streamlined strategy over here; that's the primary reason I made my move over here. I also have a lot of friends over here whom I've known for many years. It's a great place to work. We're excited about trying to increase our market share, and with all new hires we have, we will accommodate that.

GlobeSt.com: Which practices of Steve Jehorek's do you intend to maintain, and what will you add to the mix?

Coyte: It's going to be a refocus. I will be doing more in my role as a sales manager than as an administrative manager, interacting with our sales staff more. Steve was very good at admin, but he wasn't as focused on selling, so I will be different—more focused on producers' efforts in the market.

GlobeSt.com: What do you anticipate in terms of volume for the Newport Beach market in 2017?

Coyte: We did $15.2 million last year, and we're estimating $17 million for this year.

GlobeSt.com: What else should our readers know about the Newport office?

Coyte: We're definitely making waves in Newport Beach. We have a big recruiting push going on now to expand the number of industrial and office producers, but also to go into a multifamily direction. We have a couple hires for that, and we've hired another individual into the retail specialty. Our focus going forward will be to expand the specialties that we have.

GlobeSt.com: What do you hope to accomplish in your new roles with Lee & Associates?

GlobeSt.com: Which practices of Steve Jehorek's do you intend to maintain, and what will you add to the mix?

GlobeSt.com: What do you anticipate in terms of volume for the Newport Beach market in 2017?

Coyte: We did $15.2 million last year, and we're estimating $17 million for this year.

GlobeSt.com: What else should our readers know about the Newport office?

Instant Insights /

Leadership Takes New Focus at Lee & Associates

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