BOSTON—As the newly appointed market leader for Transwestern's Northeast office, Steve Purpura has no less than three-tall orders before him—though they're all interrelated.
First, his job is to grow the company's Northeast presence, especially in New York, making it competitive with some of the big brokerage firms across the city. Second, in order to do that, he needs to find the best and the brightest in the field. And third, he plans to do all of this by retaining a “fun” culture.
Already with Transwestern since December—when the company acquired Purpura's brokerage firm, Richards Barry Joyce & Partners LLC—Purpura will shift from a day-to-day role into a more strategic one to make those three initiatives happen, he tells GlobeSt.com.
“I was running the Boston office for Transwestern, now we're going to bring someone else in to do that and we'll bring in similar people to New York and New Jersey. Meanwhile, my time will be reallocated to running the region; it'll be more about strategy and building the business.”
While the firm has no set size in mind, it's thinking big, Purpura reveals. “We want to dramatically grow the business. There's market share to be gained in New York, where a few major firms dominate and a few people at those firms may have hit a ceiling. We're going to provide an environment without a ceiling.”
He explains, “When you're at a big shop you're incentivized by how much you drive commissions but that's not necessarily what's best for the company, or for clients. Our approach is to emphasize sharing, teamwork and putting the client first.”
Further, Transwestern and Purpura alike look to create a collegial atmosphere. “The one thing that's been great for us [in joining the firm] is the culture; the company makes sure that's not sacrificed. Being around like minded individuals makes you enjoy work.”
In the Northeast division, he says, “We're going to be focused on growing a business and having fun. We want people to enjoy seeing each other Monday morning and Friday night.”
Continue Reading for Free
Register and gain access to:
- Breaking commercial real estate news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
- Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
- Critical coverage of the property casualty insurance and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, PropertyCasualty360 and ThinkAdvisor
Already have an account? Sign In Now
© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
Rayna Katz
Rayna Katz is a seasoned business journalist whose extensive experience includes coverage of the lodging sector, travel and the culinary space. She was most recently content director for a business-to-business publisher, overseeing four publications. While at Meeting News, a travel trade publication, she received a Best Reporting award for a story on meeting cancellations in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina.
