Each year, Midwest Real Estate News elects a new class to its Commercial Real Estate Hall of Fame. This year, we are also running those profiles online. Today, we look at the busy career of Paul Donovan, executive director of the Minneapolis office of Cushman & Wakefield.
Paul Donovan has one mission when working with clients: He wants to create value by finding the best solutions to their problems.
It’s an approach that’s worked during Donovan’s 18-year commercial real estate career. Today, he leads the MSP Advisory Services team at the Minneapolis office of Cushman & Wakefield. This team provides local and national real estate services to businesses, non-profits and education groups.
This team is a good fit for Donovan. Team members spend much of their time listening to clients and then devising plans to help them most efficiently reach their goals. This is the exact approach that Donovan has taken throughout his career.
“I really enjoy the challenge of spending every day finding the best ways to create value and provide solutions for my clients,” Donovan said. “I hope that has a significant impact on their business and their people.”
Donovan has worked with several big-name clients. This includes CenterPoint Energy, The Bancorp Bank, Prudential, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota, U.S. Bank and Royal Bank of Canada. He’s also earned several industry awards, including the 2017 NAIOP Minnesota Broker Award for Outstanding Value Created by a Brokerage Team. He’s earned the President’s Award from Cushman & Wakefield, the company’s Eagle Award and its Volunteer of the Year honor. Cushman & Wakefield has named Donovan a top-producer several times, too.
“Putting my clients first has been central to my career,” Donovan said. “I’m proud to say I’ve always been very open and honest with my clients and other brokers.”
Despite his busy career, Donovan finds time to volunteer for his community. He’s a board chair with the Sisters of St. Joseph Carondelet Foundation, board member of the Catholic Finance Corporation and past chairman of Achieve! Minneapolis. He’s also volunteered his time with the Greater Minneapolis Crisis Nursery, Minnesota Council of Nonprofits, Association of Legal Administrators-Minnesota and Minnesota Commercial Association of Realtors.
In his rare free time, Donovan enjoys doing anything in the outdoors, including golfing, hiking and skiing. He also enjoys traveling and trying new food. Then there’s family time.
“I want my adult kids, if they leave Minneapolis-St. Paul, to live in great cities so my wife and I can visit then,” Donovan said. “So far, so good!”
