"This is a very important move for the company. It's a clarification to the organization of my every day focus," Dawkins tells GlobeSt.com. "We have formalized what we've been doing for a very long time and it now has dedicated leadership." The retail corporate solutions unit remains part of the parent firm's global corporate solutions division and Dawkins continues to report to Staubach Retail president Clay Smith.

Dawkins, former president of George Group Consulting, joined the Dallas-based firm in 2002 to lay the foundation for a retail corporate solutions group, plying the plan as he worked as COO. "We built a strong consulting model side by side with a strong brokerage model," the 24-year veteran says. But there was an equally daunting challenge: figure out how to best integrate resources of corporate solutions professionals and retail brokers on the streets in Staubach's 21 US offices.

The combined force totals 550 professionals, with expertise covering all needs from a retailer's storefronts to its executive suites. Dawkins stresses the intent isn't to replace retailers' in-house staffs, but to provide conceptual and management consulting services in tandem with transactions. The difference in Staubach Retail's old system and the integrated one is the industry's proverbial wall separating corporate solutions and transactions teams has been torn down to create a cohesive unit, he explains.