Colorado Real Estate Journal -
Commercial real estate is how Alec Wynne realized his childhood dream of working internationally, and to be based in Denver is icing on the cake. Wynne is executive managing partner of the Denver office of iCore Global, whose list of assignments recently grew to encompass 20 countries. About once a quarter, his work takes him to places including London, Paris or Argentina. Working under a tight deadline, Wynne last year completed a complex 80,000-square-foot office transaction in Lithuania – client Western Union’s foray into the Baltic region. “I am proud of it because it was a real testament not only to my skill set as a real estate professional, but it also was the glue that really solidified my relationship with Western Union,” said Wynne. Wynne was raised in Richmond, Calif. His parents – his dad made a living as a truck driver and his mom is an electrical contractor – steered Wynne toward engineering, although he gravitated to international business while a student at the University of California at Los Angeles. After graduating, he worked for custom clothier Tom James, where high-income clients recognized his potential. He interviewed clients about their careers in investment banking and commercial real estate, pursuing the latter because of its entrepreneurial nature. Wynne was offered a job in Grubb & Ellis Co.’s West LA office, but passed because of two incidents, the first being the theft of a car he’d owned for only two weeks from the parking garage at his apartment complex. Later, he was driving home from work late one evening when the car in front of him was riddled with bullets, causing him to duck and pray he “wouldn’t be taken out as a witness.” “I didn’t want to raise my kids in an environment like that,” said Wynne, who within 30 days packed up and left California. Wynne intended to work in pharmaceutical sales for Johnson & Johnson, but the managing director at Grubb & Ellis arranged for him to interview with Barry Dorfman (now with Jones Lang LaSalle) and Tim Harrington (Newmark Knight Frank Frederick Ross) in the Denver office. “Those two gentlemen have a lot to do with why I ended up moving here,” said Wynne, who worked with Dorfman for three years and moved with him to The Staubach Co. He later joined Trammell Crow Co. and CBRE, where he was an MVP Award winner and led a presentation that netted the assignment for a large portion of Oracle’s North America portfolio. “Commercial real estate afforded me an opportunity to chart my own path. It’s one of the few industries where you really feel like you’re the CEO of your own company within a company,” said Wynne, who by nature is competitive and likes the idea of reaping rewards of his own efforts. “It’s a relationship-centered business,” he added. “If you’re not someone who creates relationships, creates trust, you’re not going to do well in this industry,” he said. Wynne said his parents always encouraged him to be bold in his thinking, “and that if I worked my hardest, I would come out just fine. “My objective is to be the most hard-working, the most sincere person you come across.” Wynne also is entrepreneurial. During the dot-com boom, he took a five-year break from brokerage to help launch a data-center company and then a company that manufactures and sells thermal energy storage products for small commercial and, now, residential buildings. He underestimated how difficult it would be to get back into the commercial real estate industry, but said he wasn’t thriving the way he did in real estate. “What I loved about the industry is what caused me to come back – the ability to engage with multiple companies in different industries, the diversity of people you meet and the companies you get to work for and work with. I really missed that.” In 2009, he and partner Justin Rayburn formed their own firm to replicate the “collegial, collaborative” environment they’d both experienced at Trammell Crow Co., and that Wynne had at Staubach. Becoming part of iCore Global 1½ years ago allowed them to expand their international reach and has turned out to be a great partnership, said 44-year-old Wynne, whose office donates 10 percent of its profits to charity. The current beneficiary is The Bridge Project, which helps kids in Denver’s public housing neighborhoods achieve their academic potential. Wynne serves on the nonprofit’s board. His own children include Mahayla, 16, Alexis, 14, Braxton, 11, and Mia, 4. Wynne, who lives in Castle Pines North, says the best decision he ever made was moving to Colorado because it’s where he met his wife, Sherry, and it’s been a great place to raise their kids. Sherry, co-founder and owner of Jack & Jill Children’s Salon, supports him through all his endeavors, including a few “wild ideas,” he said. “I would not have been able to accomplish what I have without her support and love,” said Wynne. Wynne, who plans to run the Denver Marathon next fall, said he never misses a soccer game, concert or parent-teacher conference, and his children know the importance he and his wife place on education. “We instill in them that education is paramount and to always dream and think big,” he said.