LOS ANGELES—Newmark Grubb Knight Frank is continuing to grow its Southern California presence. GlobeSt.com reports exclusively that the firm has hired five new professionals to serve in leadership positions in three of its L.A. offices. Chris Strickfaden and Eric Adams will serve as senior managing directors in the South Bay office; Jen Fairfield will serve as managing director in the Downtown Los Angeles office and John Carrick and Robert Lindner will serve as senior managing directors in the West Los Angeles office.

“These are all people who have had a great track-record of being productive brokers and people who have proven themselves and who fit within this amazing entrepreneurial culture,” Greg May, EVP and regional managing director of NGKF, tells GlobeSt.com about the new hires. “We've been in a growth mode and are looking to fill all services that support our customer base. We do that through recruiting top-tier brokers in Southern California that complement each other and specialize in commercial real estate-specific needs, such as industrial, office and investment.”

Strickfaden and Adams join the firm from JLL, where Strickfaden served as a managing director and Adams served as a VP. In his storied career, Strickfaden has represented major tenants, including Nissan, TRW, IBM, Dow Jones, Hertz Corp. and Wells Fargo, and has completed $3 billion in real estate transactions. Adams has completed $450 million in transactions in his career, and has represented major tenants, including CBS, United Airlines, Rapid 7, Wpromote, ACS and Mitre Corp. Fairfield joins NGKF from LA Realty Partners, but her resume also includes experience at JLL and Bixby Land Co. Carrick is a former attorney and investment banker with a focus on debt origination and securitization, and has worked with Anderson Global Corporate Finance, Savills Studley and Cohen Finance. Lastly, Lindner has had a 15-year career serving in an advisory capacity for firms like Cohen Financial's Equity Practice Group and Savills Studley's real estate investment banking practice.

Gaining top-tier talent is a pillar of NGKF's growth plans. “We are really tracking interest from the brokerage community because we have a really wonderful broker-centric culture at Newmark that is really designed to support brokers and help them flourish while providing the best services possible for clients,” says May. In addition to hiring top talent, the firm also announced plans to acquire Excess Space Retail Services, which will help to bolster its corporate services business.