A youth soccer coach-turned-office leasing agent is now the newly minted head of brokerage for Newmark's Southeast region.

Sean Moynihan has been named the regional managing director and Southeast market leader for the publicly traded brokerage firm, overseeing Newmark's offices in Atlanta, Memphis, Nashville, Raleigh, Charlotte, Tampa, Orlando, Boca Raton, Miami and Jacksonville. It's a position that has Moynihan supporting brokers' efforts to drum up new business as commercial real estate activity increases throughout the Southeast.

“Sean has become an influential part of our organization, helping to lead Newmark’s growth in the Atlanta market and the surrounding region,” Newmark Chief Revenue Officer Lou Alvarado said in a press release.

Moynihan joined Newmark in 2003 after a career as a youth soccer coach in Buckhead and steadily rose to become executive vice president, being named head of the Atlanta office in 2019.

As the leader in one of the country's hottest office markets, Moynihan's role has been focused on supporting the brokerage team rather than pursuing real estate deals himself, Moynihan told Bisnow in an interview Wednesday. That role will continue but on a wider geographic scale.

“That's the beauty of what this is," Moynihan said. "I'm a true coach. It's not a player/coach model."

Moynihan said activity throughout the Southeast has been on the rise, especially in Atlanta where multifamily and industrial are hot; in Boca Raton, which has been an active office market; in Nashville; and in Raleigh, which has seen a burst of life sciences demand. The Southeast doesn't look to slow down as more companies look to relocate to follow the growing population.

“It's the Sun Belt, right? The cost and quality of living in the Southeast are very strong and attractive to people,” he said. “I think that's what's driving commercial real estate activity.”