Melissa Copley
Vice Chairman, Newmark
Chicago, IL 60661
Phone (312) 224-3114
Property Types
Office
Markets
Chicago
Bio
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, and Lambda Alpha International, a land economics society.
Industry Recognition:
2009:
? Interview by Lisa Leiter of Crain’s Chicago Business Today, “Demand Dead For Downtown Office Space”.
? 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.
? Panel Moderator 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
Education
Affiliations
