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Melissa J. Copley is President and Founder of Copley
Advisors, a strategic real estate advisory and transaction
services firm. Ms. Copley is known for her experience,
leadership, strategic perspective, financial expertise,
negotiating skills and achieving outstanding results for her
clients.
Experience:
Ms. Copley began her business career in 1983 as an associate
in banking with Citibank in Midtown Manhattan. Beginning in
1985, while attending evening graduate business school, Ms.
Copley worked full time as a venture capital financial
analyst for RBK Management in Chicago. Upon graduation from
business school in 1988, Ms. Copley joined LaSalle Partners,
now Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL), in Tenant Representation.
Ms. Copley was with JLL for over 17 years. In 2002, she
became a JLL International Director. This top designation was
shared at the time by 130 of JLL’s 17,000 + professionals. Ms.
Copley was Managing Director and Team Leader of JLL’s largest
tenant representation team, which closed over 20 million RSF in
transactions. She was Chairman of JLL’s Global Law Firm
Practice. Ms. Copley was JLL’s strategic alliance Oversight
Executive for Foley & Lardner, GATX Corporation, Huron
Consulting, United Health Group and Sprint. Other important
clients included: Baker & Hostetler, Jones Day, Katten Muchin
Rosenman, PageNet, Prudential, Seyfarth Shaw, and Unilever.
In 2005, Ms. Copley founded Copley Advisors, a firm that
provides specialized tenant representation and strategic real
estate portfolio planning services wherever its clients’ needs
are. Copley Advisors is dedicated to achieving outstanding
results on behalf of its clients. Since 1989, Ms. Copley has
represented GATX Corporation, a core client of Copley Advisors,
across multiple locations, including its 125,000 RSF Chicago
headquarters, a sale of GATX’s 60,000 RSF Eden’s Prairie,
Minnesota building, a 44,000 RSF sublease in San Francisco,
California, and two advisory assignments. Other representative clients include
The Boys and Girls Clubs of Chicago, Consolidated American
Services, EF International Language Schools, European Metal
Recycling, First American Commercial Real Estate Services, Mr.
James J Glasser (Chairman Emeritus of GATX), Kinship Trust
Company, LLC, Lannon, Lannon &
Barr, Ltd., Mason Avenue Investments, Matushek, Nilles & Sinars, L.L.C., Michael J. Wilson & Associates, Integrys (Peoples Gas),
and Victorinox/Swiss Army.
Education, Licensing and Affiliations:
Ms. Copley holds an M.B.A. in finance and marketing from the
Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and
a B.A. in economics from the University of Michigan. She is
a licensed Illinois Real Estate Broker.
Ms. Copley is a Board Member of the Boys and Girls Clubs of
Chicago, Chairman and a Board Member of the International
Association of Attorneys and Executives in Corporate Real Estate
(AECRE), and a member of CoreNet Global, Chicago Chapter of
CoreNet, Lambda Alpha International, a land economics
society, and The Realty Club of Chicago.
Industry Recognition:
2009:
- Founder of the AECRE Chicago Networking Lunch program:
- June 15, 2009; speaker Alan Kravets, President, Sheldon
Good & Company, on the topic of the state of current auction
market.
- September 21, 2009; speaker Lisa J. Cunningham, Region
Manager Real Estate Banking, JPMorgan Chase Bank, on the
topic of real estate lending in current times.
- One of two panelists at the Crain’s Online Seminar,
“Right Size Your Lease” (Chicago, IL); panel moderated by
Tom Corfman, Senior Real Estate Reporter; webinar format
with on screen presentations and interactive question and
answer session with audience.
- Panelist at the 3rd Quarter CoreNet Mentorship Program
(Chicago, IL); panelists included head of corporate real
estate from Bank of America and Verizon.
- Interviewed by Lisa Leiter of Crain’s Chicago
Business Today, “Demand Dead For Downtown Office Space”;
aired on the worldwide web.
- Instructor on the CoreNet Global / MCR Advanced Real
Estate Negotiations class (Chicago, IL); fellow instructors
from MBG Consulting and Brown, Udell Pomerantz & Delrahim,
LTD. and Dennis DeCamp. Course received top ratings.
Instructors have been invited to teach this course in other
CoreNet cities.
- Panel Moderator for fourth consecutive year on the
Chicago Downtown Office Market at the Real Estate Publishing
Group’s Commercial Real Estate Forecast (Chicago, IL);
panelists from CB Richard Ellis, Colliers Bennett &
Kahnweiler Inc., MB Real Estate and Perkins & Will.
2008:
- Panel Moderator on the General Market Overview at the
Real Estate Publishing Group's Downtown Office & Property
Management Conference (Chicago, IL); panelists from CB
Richard Ellis, Development Resources, Inc., Golub & Company,
Jones Lang LaSalle and Tishman Speyer.
- Panel Moderator on the Chicago Downtown Office Market at
the Real Estate Publishing Group’s Commercial Real Estate
Forecast (Chicago, IL); panelists from Colliers Bennett &
Kahnweiler, Hines, Jones Lang LaSalle, Tishman Speyer and
J.F. McKinney.
- Executive Women in Corporate Real Estate Leadership
Retreat (Harvard University) participant.
2007:
- Panelist at AECRE Fall Forum, “Landlord versus Tenant –
The Letter of Intent Battle”; panelists from Seyfarth Shaw,
Tishman Speyer, and former Equity Office Properties.
- Panelist at Property Development Due Diligence
Conference produced by Incremental Advantage; panelists from
Bell, Boyd & Lloyd LLP and S&B Construction Company, LLC.
- Panel Moderator on the Chicago Downtown Office Market at
the Real Estate Publishing Group’s Commercial Real Estate
Forecast (Chicago, IL); panelists from MB Real Estate, The
John Buck Company, Equis, Hines and Staubach.
- Executive Women in Corporate Real Estate Leadership
Retreat (New York City) participant.
2006:
- Named 2005 CoStar Power Broker.
- Panel Moderator at AECRE’s Annual Meeting (Santa Fe, NM)
on Maximizing Corporation’s Value of Excess Properties;
panelists from Prudential and Sprint.
- Panel Moderator at Executive Women in Corporate Real
Estate Leadership Retreat (Harvard University) on Generational
Issues and Real Estate; panelists from Microsoft, Google,
MTV, Viacom, and Hartford.
- Chicago CoreNet Panelist with BP Amoco and Rockwell
International on Supporting Business Objectives Through Real
Estate.
- Panel Moderator on the Chicago Downtown Office Market at
the Real Estate Publishing Group’s Commercial Real Estate
Forecast (Chicago, IL); panelists from The Prime Group, JF
McKinney Assoc., Staubach, and CBRE.
2005:
- Panelist at the Law Firm / Financial Services conference
of the Real Estate Communications Group.
-
NAIOP Panelist on Downtown Chicago Market
Forecast
2004: Speaker
and Educator at the Association for Legal Administrators in
Jacksonville, Florida
2003: Named
one of Commercial Property News’ “Hottest Brokers”
2002: Speaker
at the Toronto Law Office Management Association Conference
Authorship:
- The Copley Advisor: The Chicago Real Estate Quarterly
Market Report for Tenants
- Ms. Copley has written and contributed to numerous real
estate articles in a variety of publications, many of which
are featured
The Copley Advisor. Articles by Ms. Copley featured in
The Copley Advisor include:
- “The Economy And Its Impact On The Office Market”
- “Asbestos And Leasing: A 2008 Case Study”
- “The Economy And The Downtown Chicago Real Estate
Market”
- “Position Your Firm Best For A New Lease”
- “The Importance Of A Good Terms Letter”
- “Market Dichotomy In Rental Rates”
- “Year End Market Commentary”
- “It’s A Generations Gap”
- “Metrics – Do You Measure Up?”
- “One Shoe Does Not Fit All”
- “Great Leasing Terms Don’t Fall Off A Truck”
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