Industry's Musical Chairs Seated in Culture, Not Up-Front Greenbacks

The bottom line is money, but major league players aren't necessarily scoring up front wins with big ticket signing bonuses. The biggest carrot being dangled is "culture," concur Rick Gillham, president of Dallas-based Gillham, Goldbeck & Associates, and Tony LoPinto, managing director of Equinox Partners in New York City. It boils down to platform, support services, advisory functions and a bottom line of higher take-home pays when the deal's done.

There is a whole menu to choose from when it comes to trying to figure out the chief motivation for the moves, say Gillham and LoPinto. "Follow the leader" is commonplace as major brokerage firms restructure, revamp and realign upper management, a commonplace tact in a down economy. Salaries in addition to bonuses are being offered by some as are bigger splits. The only common strategy at play, though, is trimming under-performing brokers from the ranks while simultaneously courting the top names in their markets.

Weaker markets, i.e. Dallas' office sector right now, are experiencing high turnovers as brokerage firms jockey for the best talent available. Some are even using that strategy to lure the best from the rest by "convincing them that they are putting together a talent pool to make them more competitive," Gillham tells GlobeSt.com. There really aren't any more job changes this year in the DFW metroplex than last year, he says. Maybe not, but there definitely have been a number of high-profile switches that have raised eyebrows around town.

Lookers really are seeking "more dimension," explains LoPinto. "In the end, it is about the money, but it's not about up front money." Companies are doing whatever it takes to get who they want while many brokers are out in the market simply looking to position themselves before the inevitable economic recovery.

In the last six months, practically every major player in the DFW region has won and lost in the daily talent tug-of-war. Street talk still has Kennedy-Wilson International closing its Dallas office. That's not true, insists a corporate chief in Beverly Hills, CA. Still, the assurance hasn't prevented all of the firm's key brokers from knocking on others' doors. The latest to switch is Ken Walters, who was with the firm for nearly seven years. He's now a managing director at Insignia/ESG in Dallas. Phil Baker, Insignia's Dallas leader, is open about his courtship of the DFW ranks. He admits he has interviewed those looking to leave Kennedy-Wilson and those who have left.

Walters' coup was equaled in recent weeks with Bradford Cos.' announcement that it had snatched long-time Woodmont Co. senior vice president Karen Simon. She is Bradford's managing director of a freshly opened Fort Worth office.

Dallas-based Mohr Partners has just made a triple play from the ranks of the Cresa/Dillon Corporate Services. John Shaunfield Jr., Dillon's vice president, is now a senior broker for Mohr while Marc Vanderslice and Gianni LaBarba were folded into Mohr's associate ranks.

Shaunfield, who was with Mohr from 1993-1998, got back into the field just six months ago with his start at Dillon. He tells GlobeSt.com that conversations with Bob Mohr, one of the region's biggest hitters, resulted in an offer for the trio to come on board and focus hard on Dallas-Fort Worth for the global brokerage firm.

Granite Properties has hired Robert Sherrill as a business application specialist. He hails from the ranks of KPMG Consulting in Dallas, but also has worked for the Archon Group LP and Lincoln Property Co.

There are those instances, such as at the Morse Co. in Dallas, where it's a promotion instead of a new hire. A. Taylor Allday, a three-year employee for Morse, is now a senior associate. He previously worked for Grubb & Ellis Co.'s Dallas office.