Cushman & Wakefield Taps SIOR CEO Robert Thornburgh to Lead Southwest

Global brokerage firm Cushman & Wakefield (CWK) has hired the former head of the Society of Industrial and Office Realtors (SIOR) to lead its Southwest operations. 

Robert Thornburgh, former CEO of SIOR and a regional president of brokerage for Kidder Mathews’ Greater Los Angeles operations, will now serve as regional president of C&W’s Southwest office, overseeing Southern California, Nevada, Phoenix, Colorado, Utah and Idaho. He will be based in the brokerage’s L.A. office. Thornburgh left Kidder Mathews in 2021 to lead SIOR, where he had previously served as global president.

“Thornburgh’s significant experience and expertise of brokerage operations and the fundamentals of our industry combined with his service-oriented approach to clients will help propel our business forward, in the Southwest and across the Americas,” Victoria Malkin, president of Americas Markets for C&W, said in a statement. 

Thornburgh will be responsible for growing C&W’s presence in the Southwest, including recruiting and employee development, developing partnerships and improving client services, according to the firm. 

Previous to his roles at SIOR and Kidder Mathews, Thornburgh also served as president and CEO of Heger Industrial, a firm which managed one of the largest industrial portfolios in the L.A. region before it merged with Kidder Mathews in 2017. He also still owns and is president of R3 Investments, an investment company founded in the mid-1990s. 

Nick Trombola can be reached at ntrombola@commercialobserver.com.