Cushman & Wakefield has appointed real estate veteran Eric Paulsen to lead its Inland Empire and Orange County offices in Southern California. Bringing with him nearly 30 years of experience and leadership in real estate and related business, Mr. Paulsen will be based in the firm’s Irvine office. He will report to Andrew McDonald, Regional Managing Principal, Executive Managing Director of Cushman & Wakefield in Greater Los Angeles and Orange County.

As Managing Principal of Cushman & Wakefield’s Orange County and Inland Empire offices, Mr. Paulsen will provide leadership and help oversee the strategic focus, growth and talent management for the firm’s offices in Irvine, Ontario and Diamond Bar. Eric PaulsenMr. McDonald said, “We exercised patience in the hiring of this role to identify the right leader to guide these offices and serve the interests of our clients and our company at the highest level. Eric possesses exceptional qualifications including significant transaction, operations, leadership and management experience as well as his unique perspective and diverse background working with complex business development solutions associated with real estate.”

He added, “Eric has consistently held leadership roles with a strong track record of performance within institutional and private organizations. Our firm will benefit greatly from Eric’s incredible energy and experience.”

Mr. McDonald also acknowledged Cushman & Wakefield’s appreciation to Phil Lombardo, Vice Chairman, who previously served as Managing Principal of the firm’s Inland Empire offices since early 2007.  “Phil’s selfless leadership and commitment to C&W’s people and to our clients is well known and will be greatly missed,” he said. Mr. Lombardo, one of the firm’s top producing industrial brokers nationally, will now dedicate his complete time and energy to continuing to service clients.
Mr. Paulsen joins Cushman & Wakefield from Ten-X Commercial (formerly Auction.com), where he most recently served as Executive Managing Director since July 2016. Years prior in 2012, he had been engaged as Co-Chief Executive Officer (CEO) to form Auction.com Commercial (ADCC), a startup venture between LNR Property and Auction.com focused on transacting loan and commercial asset sales utilizing Auction.com’s online-based auction platform.  He performed all CEO duties in this role. Then in 2013, the Auction.com Commercial venture was rolled into Auction.com (ADC), where Mr. Paulsen continued his responsibilities of running the commercial division as Executive Vice President/General Manager, overseeing 125 employees and generating revenue in excess of $115M. Prior to those positions, Mr. Paulsen was Vice President of Acquisitions and Dispositions with LNR Property Corp of Newport Beach, a company he worked for over a decade from 2000 to 2011 and was involved in $4 billion in commercial real estate transactions and $3 billion in non-performing loan sales nationwide. He also managed various groups within the company.

A graduate from UCLA, Mr. Paulsen’s career in commercial real estate officially began nearly three decades ago in 1988 with CBRE where for more than 12 years he focused on investment sales, transacting over $1 billion of real estate. His career experience in brokerage also extends to his role as Senior Vice President with Prism Realty in Costa Mesa, in between his aforementioned leadership roles at Ten-X and Auction.com.

Mr. Paulsen is also a highly active member and leader within his community, serving roles such as Vice President of Community Outreach for HomeAid Orange County, a member of CDM High School Booster Board and District 64 Business Council Commissioner.

Mr. Paulsen said, “Cushman & Wakefield is one of the world’s most elite real estate firms and it is a great pleasure to be entrusted with the role of leading our office operations in the prosperous Orange County and Inland Empire, both famed as essential markets in our region.”

He added, “These three offices possess a highly accomplished, talented team of professionals having extensive experience not only in representing many of the world’s leading institutions, corporations and professional firms, but also providing comprehensive real estate services locally to clients. As Managing Principal, my first and foremost focus will be in maintaining our mission to deliver best practices, solutions and outcomes to clients, while continuing to elevate our performance.”

The appointment of Mr. Paulsen times with several other top notch hires Cushman & Wakefield has made over the past year throughout Greater Los Angeles, in addition to its repositioning several regional offices into more innovative and collaborative Class A spaces. The firm remains steadfast in further strengthening its position as a thought and market leader in the region. Cushman & Wakefield currently employs more than 450 professionals in the Greater Los Angeles region, with office locations strategically spread across the region in Downtown Los Angeles, Century City, El Segundo, Long Beach, Inland Empire, and Irvine.