CBRE Industry Guru To Retire in November

Dieter tells GlobeSt.com exclusively, that retirement now makes sense for a couple of reasons. "I've been doing this for such a long time I've never been able to take a step back and look at the world look at my self and just take a deep breath and see what's ahead of me," he says.

Additionally, with the market in a tailspin there are new challenges industry professionals are up against. "It's a good time for a new, young, passionate successor to allow me to pass the baton," Dieter says.

Schreyer will spend the next couple months working Dieter to learn the ropes. In his new position he'll be heading a service group of over 950 industrial professionals. In 2008, the group completed 8,175 transactions in the Americas totaling $14.6 billion. Schreyer, who will remain based out of Cincinnati, will continue in Dieter's footprints by traveling around the country to see firsthand the markets, buildings and companies CBRE deals with.

"I took particular pride in visiting markets so that when I get a call from a client who may be on the edge of their seat a little bit anxious to get their property leased, I can say I've seen it, walked it, know it's competitors," Dieter says. "That seems to hit a very appreciative cord from some of our clients. In some case they have not always seen this hands on approach."

Throughout his 30-year career, Dieter has seen a lot of changes, several recession cycles and inked many deals. When asked what the biggest difference is now from when he first entered into the business, Dieter tells GlobeSt.com that the globalization of the market is the biggest difference. For example, a few months ago the California office was working on a deal with a Japanese company. Dieter asked the brokers handling the deal if they had reached out to the Japanese office to see the kind of relationship CBRe had with the firm there. A couple phone calls later it was revealed that in fact the Japanese office has worked closely with the company in the past singing a number of deals. That knowledge and company connection helped seal the California deal.

"I can proudly say the industry has grown tremendously in capturing all those technology components it probably lacked a couple years ago," Dieter says.