Bill Lederer and Les Korman at Korman/Lederer in Northbrook took a chance on Steve Sullivan while he was still a senior at Indiana University. Sullivan started canvassing for their industrial portfolio in August 1987 and doing multi-tenant deals.
“I stayed there for five years and then worked at Tri-State Realty with Rob Elbrecht for three years,” Sullivan said, vice president at NAI Hiffman. “Before joining NAI Hiffman I was at Grubb & Ellis for five years.”
Sullivan has worked in commercial real estate for over 20 years, and despite the fact that real estate is cyclical and has down years, he noted that every day is an opportunity to generate a new opportunity! “That and working in such an entrepreneurial environment like the industrial sector of CRE is in my blood.”
For the past 14 years Sullivan has worked for NAI, and said it’s the absolute ideal real estate provider in that the company is local.
“We’re locally owned and yet we can provide our clients an institutional, national (even global) platform through the NAI network,” he said. “Locally, I think that we are the most entrepreneurial and collaborative team in the business.”
“Since last August our firm has experienced impressive growth, especially on the office side,” Sullivan continued. “We have been selected for five new leasing and management assignments, all of which are multi-tenant Class A and B buildings. We are also hiring top tier talent to support our growth. It’s an exciting time for us—in management as well as office and industrial brokerage.”
There are a number of things, both professionally and personally, Sullivan is working on that are exciting!
“I am working on several building sales that have been in the pipeline for three to four years,” he said. “That has seemed like an eternity. I’m pursuing a sale/leaseback and two to three other investment opportunities that supplement my traditional street brokerage efforts in the northern suburbs. On the personal side, I am very involved in a fundraising event, “Battle of the Bands – Rock Out Melanoma 2″, which takes place this Saturday, March 7th, at FIELDS VOLVO in Northfield.”
After 20-plus years in CRE, Sullivan has surely given some great advice (“Never stop prospecting!”), and has heard great advice at one time or another.
“The first is to always put your clients’ needs above your own, and if you have enough things going in your pipeline, your integrity will always be intact,” Sullivan said. “Secondly, keep a copy of your largest commission check folded up in your wallet, and replace it each time you top that previous mark. I just did it today!”
So when Sullivan isn’t working, what does he like to do? Be with his family of course!
“Our kids’ activities are never ending, so I enjoy chasing them to and fro, as well as being around to savor (mostly) every moment because it’s supposed to go so fast! I am involved in three to four charitable organizations that have been great for networking and keeping my sanity – especially these past six years when CRE has been extremely challenging.”
Sullivan will be 50 years old this year, and noted that he’d like to really focus on traveling and spending time with his parents while they are in good shape. “I look forward to doing more skiing, and golf trips with friends and family, than I got to do in my 30s and 40s,” he said. “My kids just figured out that there is better skiing out West, and I’d love to someday spend more time in Jackson, WY!”
Besides all of the wonderful successes in Sullivan’s career, he’s certainly most proud of all his accomplishments outside of work! “In addition to my relationships with our extended family, I am proud of the work I do for college preparedness with the “Summer of a Lifetime” program within the Noble Network of Charter High Schools in Chicago.”
Much closer to home is the collaboration Sullivan’s involved in with Skin Of Steel, a Glenview-based melanoma research board that is building the first ever, openly-collaborative tissue bank to study cancerous tissues of melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer.
“My brother, Dan Sullivan, died from Stage IV melanoma in 2010, and since that time I have helped connect many people with our cause, including in the CRE community here in Chicago. In fact, our founder is Susan Steel, a 10-year melanoma survivor. Together with her husband, Mas Ishida, she founded TOBI Corporation.”
“Susan, Mas (who is now at Colliers), Kelly Joyce, Mike Fonda and Danny Nikitas, are but a few of us in our field seizing this opportunity to change the face of melanoma on a global scale,” Sullivan continued. “But like real estate, it is all “local”, so Northwestern University in Chicago is poised to be one of the four medical institutions in our country who are working together. The fun part now is building these relationships in Pittsburgh, Portland, OR and San Francisco, where so many wonderful people and philanthropists are getting fully engaged.”
Skin Of Steel’s annual fundraiser, “Battle of the Bands – Rock Out Melanoma 2″, is this Saturday, March 7th, at FIELDS VOLVO in Northfield. People can learn more about the event and purchase tickets at http://skinofsteel.org/page/sos-news.
Sullivan said that if he wasn’t working in commercial real estate, his start could have been in the automobile business downstate Champaign where he’s from. “My brother and I would’ve killed each other though– so I am pretty certain I’d be selling some kind of real estate somewhere – maybe at a higher altitude!”
