Meghan Marchini, 32

Career transitions are never easy, but Meghan Marchini excitedly embraced the challenge when she left the accounting world for real estate brokerage. 

“I started off originally as a wee little accountant in the world. I graduated [in 2016] and immediately went into public accounting, and so numbers are my background,” the Providence College alumnus said. “I did that for about three years, and then I realized that things can get repetitive after a while, and I knew that there’s so much more out there. … So I made the switch over to brokerage.”

Marchini has been with Savills for eight years, and is currently leading a specialized advisory team that focuses on complex tenant strategy, financial analysis and transaction structures. She works on assignments for clients that include advising on financial modeling, lease negotiations and portfolio optimization. 

“People demand sophisticated strategies,” Marchini said. “So, being able to marry the two — brokerage and finance — created the perfect role for me. I started off as a pure financial analyst, reviewing leases, modeling cash flows, and helping put together pitch decks. But over the last couple of years it’s grown into so much more than that. I’ve taken a more senior-level seat at the table, being in more of a consultative mindset, and helping to create solutions for people.”

One client that Marchini is particularly proud to have worked with is the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research. The nonprofit this spring relocated to a 68,958-square-foot office space at 530 Fifth Avenue from 111 West 33rd Street, needing to cut down on its real estate spend, as it relies heavily on donations to stay in operation. 

“I feel really strongly about their mission and the organization, so I pretty much jumped at the opportunity to work on that one,” Marchini said of the foundation. “To create a solution for them that allowed them to free up their donor dollars to put their money where it actually matters was the culmination of all things that I look for when doing this type of work.”