Chris White's Task: Grow Studley Fivefold

As the new head of Savills Studley in Atlanta, Chris White (on left with Studley's Michael Colacino and Jeremy Helsby) now has his marching orders: break into the top three tenant rep club in Atlanta. That's a tall order, to say the least, given the top three spots have been dominated by JLL, CBRE and Cushman & Wakefield since...well, since the dawn of time, probably. At least in Atlanta. But fresh from a return trip to Studley's NYC Park Avenue HQ, Chris is all energy and positive vibes on the task. “In almost every market we're in, we're at least the third biggest tenant rep brokerage.” But not in metro Atlanta, where its activity trails well behind. While the firm has some big names and big deals, Chris says he's looking to grow its brokerage ranks fivefold from the current seven-member team.

Chris—after parting with DTZ following its merger with Cassidy Turley earlier this year—has been a broker/leader without a port. After leaving Cushman & Wakefield in 2012, he took a huge boost of a job to be Clark Gore's right-hand man at Cassidy Turley's Atlanta office, leading the brokerage team there. After a two-year tenure in 2014, Chris and Clark parted ways with Cassidy Turley, with Clark eventually going to CBRE and Chris to DTZ, where he was one of the top office tenant reps in the city, securing Worldpay at 201 17th St in one of the biggest deals last year. Following the merger, Chris again left the company, ceding the office to Lisa Dunavin's leadership, and then remained well below the radar while hunting for his next opportunity. He takes the post once held by Andrew Lechter, who will remain a senior member of Studley's Atlanta office, focused solely on brokering deals, officials say.