CBRE Lures Top D.C. Office Leasing Team From JLL
Amy Bowser, who has twice been named Washington, D.C.'s top leasing broker during her time at JLL, has jumped to the firm's chief rival.
CBRE has hired Bowser as executive vice president, Bisnow has learned. It also brought on Brooks Brown and Will Donohue, leasing brokers who worked with Bowser at JLL, as senior vice president and vice president, respectively. CBRE confirmed the trio's hire on Monday afternoon.
“This team reflects CBRE’s focus on top talent and on recruiting the next generation of leaders in real estate,” CBRE Mid-Atlantic President Kyle Schoppmann said in a statement to Bisnow. “They represent the high-caliber professionals we continue to attract, develop and advance. We are thrilled to welcome them to CBRE.”
Bowser held the role of executive managing director at JLL, where she had worked since the early 2000s. She began her career with Spaulding & Slye Colliers in 1999, according to her LinkedIn page, and JLL acquired that firm in 2005.
In 2020 and 2022, Bowser was named the top D.C. leasing agent at the CREBA awards, an honor given to the city's highest-performing broker. She was also recognized as a deal-maker of the year at Bisnow's D.C. Region Women Leading Real Estate event last year, and she was named one of the Washington Business Journal's 2022 Women Who Mean Business.
Bowser has handled some of JLL's most high-profile agency leasing assignments in D.C., including representing Hoffman-Madison Waterfront in the office lease-up at The Wharf.
Brown leaves JLL after his second stint with the firm. He worked at JLL for one year in 2006 before spending the next 12 years with Tishman Speyer, then rejoining JLL in 2019. Brown also worked with Bowser at Spaulding & Slye starting in 1999.
Donohue began working at JLL in 2017, the year he graduated from Denison University, according to his LinkedIn page. He has worked on 59 leasing deals in his time with the firm, including D.C.'s largest in recent years: the Securities and Exchange Commission's 1.2M SF headquarters lease in NoMa in 2021.
