Plott resigned quietly earlier this month to pursue other interests. He is rumored to be close to landing a top spot at a large hospitality company.

Scheferman tells GlobeSt.com that he'll continue Colliers Seeley's aggressive expansion, which has involved the hiring of dozens of brokers and the opening of several new offices over the past year or so. "We're going to keep pushing and building market share," says Scheferman, 55. "We want more brokers and more offices."

Likely spots for the firm's next growth spurt included South Orange County and LA's San Gabriel Valley. "We're also looking hard at the Corona area in Riverside," Scheferman says.

Scheferman spent 27 years in the Marine Corps, eventually retiring as a colonel and the commander of the Fifth Marine Regiment based in Southern California's Camp Pendleton in 1995. He went to work for Plott when Plott ran Airport Group International, a private company that builds and buys airports around the world, then followed Plott to Colliers Seeley last year.

"He's the right man to continue moving us forward," says Dave Drummond, a member of the company's board of directors. Founded in 1908, Colliers Seeley now has about 150 brokers in the LA area and $2.6 billion in annual transaction volume.