Ali Gordon, 27

As a born-and-bred New Yorker, Ali Gordon has always been fascinated by real estate.

“You can see neighborhoods evolve and new developments change the skyline,” she said. “I feel like I always had a front-row seat to witness that.”

She joined CBRE as a financial analyst in 2020, in the midst of a global pandemic and fresh off the heels of earning her bachelor’s degree at Cornell University’s School of Hotel Administration.

Starting out in the slower market that COVID-19 brought allowed her to hone her analytics skills and market knowledge over time, Gordon said.

“It’s been really awesome to see the recovery happen in real time, and to also work on a team that is at the forefront of developing these really unique strategies for our clients, because there was no playbook when the pandemic happened,” Gordon said.

She was promoted to vice president of the firm’s consulting group in March of this year. Her day-to-day work in consulting with clients involves building financial models, conducting market analyses, preparing lease abstracts, and supporting negotiations with data. 

Gordon’s work on luxury jeweler David Yurman’s 150,000-square-foot headquarters renewal at 200 Hudson Street in 2024 marked her first major consulting assignment of that scale. With the company facing either a renewal or leaving its home in Manhattan since 1995, the David Yurman assignment called for complex considerations over the designer’s brand identity and space requirements.

This past year, Gordon and CBRE’s consulting team helped national law firm BakerHostetler decide on another major renewal at 45 Rockefeller Plaza, rather than a relocation. Gordon helped the firm negotiate a competitive lease that would support renovations and accommodate the firm’s future growth.

Gordon also serves as programming chair for CBRE’s Tri-State Women’s Network, which supports the retention and advancement of women in real estate. She also remains active at her alma mater through the Young Alumni Advisory Committee of the Cornell Real Estate Council.