What You Don’t Know About Sara Spicklemire

Job title: SVP and managing director of leasing services. (Editor's note: She's the first female and youngest managing director at MBRE!)
What that means: I lead the team along with Gary Denenberg and Mark Buth and focus on setting strategy and new business development.
What your company does: While MB Real Estate is a full service firm, our team of eight leasing agents is 100% focused on repping landlords of office property in the CBD.
Memorable project: Repping Callahan Capital Properties at 10 & 120 S Riverside. OptionsHouse and tradeMONSTER just merged and expanded into a full floor of 10 S Riverside. It was a fun deal to work on (with the new company hosting an integration party when the deal was signed), and it’s cool to see how the merger process goes down on the real estate side.
Hometown: The cornfields of Noblesville, Ind.
School: Indiana University. There’s a healthy rivalry at our office between IU grads and Wisconsin grads.
First job: Babysitter in a health club, watching over 15-30 little brats while their parents worked out.
First CRE job: I started in the business on the tenant rep side at Grubb & Ellis. I worked on Jay Stewart and Tom Tunnicliff’s team (I call Tom my “professional father” since he got me interested in real estate. He’s now at C&W.) and Tom always encouraged me to consider the landlord side to get immediate exposure to deals, which he felt to be the best way to learn the business. So I made the switch a year in at Grubb and have stayed ever since.
Job in another life: Something with the Travel Channel, where I can travel all over the world then report about what I did, what I ate, and how awesome it was. (Sara's snapped with her husband in New Zealand in goofy sheep and kiwi hats.)

Person (living or dead) to meet: My grandmother. She passed away before I was born and seemed like an interesting lady.
Greatest fear: It was failure, but I’ve realized that’s a necessary part of learning. Now I want to look back and feel like what I did had meaning and made an impact.
Daily habit: Working out. It’s my stress reliever and sanity check. I do all kinds of things so it’s not mundane: yoga, running, cardio classes, lifting weights, etc. (Photo from the time Sergio Rojas asked Sara to join him on NBC’s Chicago Fit Club segment.)
Favorite song of the moment: “Waves” by Mr. Probz.
Favorite book: Anything by Vince Flynn. Think CIA, covert opps, a book version of 24.
Favorite movie: The Boondock Saints.
Favorite vacation: I’m not a repeat offender and always like new places, but New Zealand was a great one.
Favorite restaurant: Sunda. You have to get the rock shrimp and brussels sprout salad.
Bucket list: A trip to Africa to do a safari and hike Kilimanjaro.
Hobbies: Anything to do with water. I enjoy taking the boat out in Diversey Harbor, water sports and going out to Denver to ski.
Startling fact: I sleep with my eyes open. (So don’t try anything, people.) It runs in the family since my dad does the same thing.