Wanda Riley, the Florida leader for Cushman & Wakefield got her start in the industry unintentionally but said she got hooked quickly.
Riley had worked in advertising for nearly a decade before looking for a new challenge. She began her real estate career at Cushman & Wakefield, the world's third-largest real estate services firm, getting her start as an office administrator in Orlando, Florida, in 2000. As she rose through the firm's ranks, Riley said she enjoyed forging new relationships and working alongside people across the industry — and never looked back.
“I love the mix of problem solving and finding solutions for our clients," Riley told CoStar News in an interview.
Riley, who is based in Orlando, has been managing principal for Cushman & Wakefield in Florida since 2019. The brokerage currently has eight offices and over 1,000 employees throughout the state.
Her role as the company’s managing principal also allows her to pay it forward to other women in the business, she said, providing them opportunities and mentorship they may not receive otherwise. “Those are the feel-good" parts of "my job and role," Riley said.
Riley has been a driving force behind Cushman & Wakefield’s growth across Florida. The firm recently welcomed a 13-person team to expand its reach in Florida's rapidly growing Treasure and Space coasts — where South Florida and Orlando's growth north and east are rapidly converging. Riley expects Cushman & Wakefield to continue to grow both in breadth and depth of services offered to clients.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
How has Florida’s commercial real estate market shifted throughout your career?
Florida has evolved and gone from an emerging market into an essential market where investors, portfolios and occupiers need to have a presence. Florida has gone from being viewed as a secondary market to a core destination for capital and corporate growth.
The state has shifted over the years. It's much more strategic and data driven. That’s definitely a key element of how people make decisions around their portfolios. Years ago, we didn't have as much quality data that we do now. It has evolved. Our infrastructure, the private-public collaborations that go on around the state these days, it's all evolving.
Is there any particular market you enjoy working with in the state?
What’s unique about Florida — you can look at it as a whole market, it is very interconnected, but each market has its own personality and its own economic engines. Now, they're all tied together statewide by shared growth patterns, mobility, lifestyle appeal. But the local demographics, labor pools, infrastructure, capital investments... these are all the drivers that really matter on the ground.
Growth is strong. Population growth, we have that year over year, and that comes with blessings and challenges because demand is strong, but then it puts pressure on housing and infrastructure and availability. Seasonality still really plays a role in certain sectors, especially retail and hospitality.
Factors like insurance and infrastructure, building standards, these are all real underwriting considerations. They can't be an afterthought.
What are some of Cushman & Wakefield’s key priorities in Florida?
We're going to continue to grow with a lot of intention. The Space and Treasure coasts team hire was very intentional, definitely part of our strategy to provide full coverage throughout the region and not have a pocket not covered.
We will continue to invest in hiring top talent, boots on the ground, and in different areas of specialty, along with developing the next generation of professionals throughout Florida. We're an advisory-led brokerage firm and team, and not just transactions.
We want to continue to deepen our sector specialization. We have a lot of teams throughout the markets that have different specializations, not the traditional office or industry. We're heavily focused on retail, our alternative asset classes, hospitality, self-storage. So, continuing to look at other ways that we can continue to grow the team and deliver service to our clients.
Any words of advice for those starting their real estate careers?
A lot of the industry is evolving around tech and data. You need to continue to be a really strong steward of keeping up with that technology and making sure that your skills are sharp and finding ways to leverage technology that can bring more insights to clients.
I'm a big believer in an old-fashioned, strong work ethic. You have got to really put in the time and energy to launch a successful career. And in this business, relationships matter so much. So, get out there and really build your network.