Robert Futterman, whom we snapped in October, has expanded his retail brokerage from NYC to Chicago, Vegas, LA, Miami, New Jersey, San Fran, and Toronto since 2001, but its home base of NYC (where Robert started the company in '98) is the gateway to US retail, a launching pad for the rest of the US, he says. That's convenient for Robert, who was born in Brooklyn and raised nearby on Long Island and has never worked at any other job than retail brokerage. Had he been born elsewhere? Well, he would have made his way to New York anyway, Robert tells us.

Big D was the natural cornerstone for The Retail Connection. CEO Steve Lieberman says it remains a great choice for the 10-year-old firm, because DFW has one of the country's fastest-growing, top-producing GDPs, a super healthy business environment, and residents with disposable incomes (keeping retailers expanding here, too). TRC--repping more than 250 retail chains and 25M SF--activated more than 700k SF of developments, 500k SF of redevelopments, and had more than 3M SF of projects in the pipeline during 2013. Steve (a Dallas native) also loves the city's attitude and energy.