Building Your Brand: Marketing for Commercial Real Estate

SMPS Chicago President-Elect Maura Dunleavy has been a member of the AEC marketing organization for 13 years and has worked in the AEC industry for over 17 years. Throughout her tenure, she has served on SMPS Chicago’s Board of Directors as Director of Professional Development and Director of Education. She currently serves as President-Elect, where she provides strategic planning for the chapter's programs, professional development, and special events. Previously with W.E. O'Neil Construction as Marketing Director, Maura provided strategy for project pursuits, managed social media marketing, and led market research and branding initiatives for their Chicago and Austin regions. Other AEC firm involvement included serving on ethics boards, women-focused committees, and co-founding W.E. O'Neil's DEI Committee. Maura just recently joined RailPros where she manages marketing communications, and the firm’s annual marketing programs and initiatives.

Margy Sweeney is the Founder & CEO of Akrete, a 30-person national PR and marketing firm ranked by O’Dwyer’s as the nation’s #2 PR firm for real estate investment and development, and she is also the Chairman of the Board of SomerCor, one of the nation’s largest SBA lenders. Margy celebrates 30 years in the commercial real estate industry in April 2025 including roles as an in-house marketing manager, journalist and PR agency leader. Margy and her team are firm believers in strong thought leadership and idea-driven marketing. She founded Akrete in 2011 with a hybrid work model and a mission to articulate and amplify ideas in the CRE, financial services and professional services industries. The firm has since helped shape some of the industry’s leading voices from companies like JLL, BGO, Skender, KeyBank and many others. Margy is passionate about supporting Marketing leaders in the commercial real estate industry and is a leader of the Urban Land Institute’s national Marketing Communications Forum. She is active in multiple business and industry groups including serving as a Board Director at the Illinois Manufacturing Excellence Council and membership in CREW, CoreNet Global, the National Association of Women Business Owners, Vistage and others.

For as long as she can remember, Emily Johnson has been honing her skills as a real estate industry publicist. After all, it was her mother, Deborah Johnson, who founded Taylor Johnson in 1977 when Emily was just 6 years old. As a result, Emily literally grew up in the business, attending model open houses on weekends, sending out press releases during summer breaks and helping out with the occasional client event. Today, more than four decades after its inception, Taylor Johnson remains the go-to PR firm for real estate companies looking to raise their profile not only in Chicago, but also markets nationally and internationally. Following Deborah’s retirement in January 2008, Emily took the reins as president, leading Taylor Johnson through the recession by strategically diversifying the business to not only survive, but thrive. In addition to nurturing longstanding relationships – Taylor Johnson still represents its first client, Lexington Homes – Emily also forged new ones, expanding the firm’s roster with a wide range of residential and commercial real estate companies. These include some of the industry’s most prolific developers and builders, as well as leading brokers, architects, designers, general contractors, property managers and more. The intentional decision to pursue work across virtually every major discipline and property type, and in geographically diverse markets, has fueled Taylor Johnson’s post- recession growth. Under Emily’s leadership, Taylor Johnson has also added social media and content development to its service offerings while growing the media relations and event management services that remain the foundation of the business.A Chicago-area native who graduated from the University of Iowa, Emily prides herself on the quality of the team she’s assembled at Taylor Johnson, drawing senior-level professionals with backgrounds in journalism, law, government, integrated marketing and communications. She’s also proud of TJ TALK, a daily digest of real estate news and events that’s delivered to over 3,000 industry professionals and editorial contacts across the country. It’s just one of the ways Taylor Johnson positions its clients as thought leaders and itself as a broader resource for the industry that seeks to inform and connect. Emily and her husband, Chris, also an entrepreneur, have two daughters and a son. When she’s not working, Emily enjoys spending time boating and traveling with her family and is an avid runner.

As Principal and COO at Mauge, a Chicago-based marketing boutique in its 26th year, Ginna leads a team of branding experts known for precision and excellence in real estate and beyond. In many ways, she’s the foundation of Mauge’s success, building the relationships it takes to provide their best-in-class service, motivated by just how much stronger businesses can be with Mauge at their side. When not at work, she enjoys spending time hiking, reading, and planning her next adventure!

As the creative director, Jason has 10+ years of award-winning advertising and branding experience, focusing on brand identity and strategic 360 campaign work. His campaigns frequently include web, film, and experiential marketing as well. With a design and photography background, Jason imagines and implements intriguing campaigns and emotionally-connected brand identities that drive leasing efforts in a rapidly transforming real estate market. He leads projects from initiation to production with full creative and strategy teams, including copywriters, designers, digital and film, to create strong campaigns and marketing solutions for Neoscape clients.