After nearly 10 years leading regional markets for Cushman & Wakefield, Roberta Liss is stepping out on her own.
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Liss, who most recently served as president of the firm's mid-Atlantic and Southeast region, is leaving to start LNSS Advisors, a consultancy focused on the data center industry.
Liss told Bisnow she also plans to do some broader investment advisory work with clients that invest in data centers and other sectors. The Washington Business Journal first reported her move.
"After an incredible decade at Cushman, as heartbreaking as it is to leave a place I love with people who are absolute experts, the temptation to get involved in the growth of digital infrastructure, which is going to drive the world, is a great draw," Liss told Bisnow.
While data centers haven't been her focus at Cushman & Wakefield, she said she has made personal investments in the sector. She plans to start consulting with firms in the D.C. region, home to the dominant Northern Virginia data center market.
But she plans to eventually expand to other big data center markets like Atlanta, which she also oversaw for the Chicago-based real estate services firm.
The data center market has been growing for years with increased adoption of digital and cloud services, but it has accelerated over the last two years as tech giants have poured hundreds of billions of dollars into artificial intelligence data centers, drawing many new investors and other players toward the sector.
Liss has worked in D.C. commercial real estate since at least 1997, when she joined the Charles E. Smith Co., according to her LinkedIn page. She then worked for Trammell Crow Co., CBRE and BECO Management.
In 2015, Liss joined DTZ as East region president and worked on its merger that year with Cushman & Wakefield. She went on to lead the firm's 246-person D.C. office and later held leadership roles in the mid-Atlantic, Northeast, north central and Southeast regions.
CREBA, the D.C. region's commercial brokerage association, in 2020 honored Liss with its Joseph Stettinius Jr. Leadership Award, named after the former Cushman & Wakefield executive who died in 2018.
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