Marion Jones went to graduate school in Philadelphia directly out of college and initially saw herself working in architecture. But halfway through her coursework, it hit her: That career choice wasn't her ideal fit.
“What I realized as a young person, all of 23 years old, was that I was far more drawn to the process of how buildings are developed — what are the needs of the capital behind them; what is the complex set of decision making processes that ultimately results in a building?” she told CoStar News in an interview.
She decided to stay in the degree program and interned at a family office in her hometown of Memphis, Tennessee, over a summer before landing her first job out of school with CBRE in New York. There, she worked on a small management consulting team for corporate real estate clients, including aerospace and defense company Northrop Grumman and General Motors, assignments that involved high-level problem solving and report writing.
“The beauty of management consulting is that there are several tried-and-true lessons that almost inevitably come out of it,” she said. “One is that you learn to ask a lot of questions. It becomes second nature to make sure you really understand the stakeholders and their motivations, alignments, conflicts and the culture of the organization.”
Jones' focus on how buildings and deals are financed led to her career in capital markets at several major brokerage and advisory firms.
As Avison Young's executive managing director of U.S. capital markets, Jones spearheads the group's strategy, working to expand its market share and position the brokerage for growth in both domestic and global markets. A licensed real estate broker in New York and Connecticut who's based in Manhattan, she is also a member of Avison Young’s U.S. Executive Committee.
Jones advanced in her career at Eastern Consolidated, Ackman-Ziff and as managing director of capital markets at JLL. She said her prior roles and experiences positioned her well for her current position. She also said her passion centers on building one-on-one relationships with the people she works with, both inside and outside the organization.
She encouraged others who are entering commercial real estate, regardless of position, to immediately develop skills in underwriting — an investment risk assessment process — and to find an employer that prioritizes a growth culture.
R É S U M É
Marion Jones | Principal, Executive Managing Director of U.S. Capital Markets, Avison Young
Hometown: Memphis, Tennessee
Current city: New York City
Years in industry: 22
Education: Bachelor's from Tulane University, Master of Architecture as well as a graduate certificate in real estate finance and development from University of Pennsylvania
Advice to those starting out in the industry: With the benefit of the type of hindsight that only experience brings, I think as a young professional I would have said no more. I would have said no to assignments that didn’t make enough sense. I think I would have said no to team structures that didn’t quite have the right alignment.
Everyone in commercial real estate had to start somewhere. CoStar's First Job column explores where careers began.