Robert L. Billingsley
Robert Billingsley is Vice Chairman of Cushman & Wakefield, a leading provider of commercial real estate services.
Robert Billingsley’s family connection to New York real estate began in 1920 when his father, Logan, arrived in New York from Oklahoma and became a successful developer in the Bronx. His uncle Sherman was the owner of The Stork Club, a Manhattan nightclub. Robert’s own career began in 1971 when he joined Cross & Brown in Manhattan as a commercial broker, eventually becoming the youngest Vice President in the firm’s 75-year history. In 1977, he was a founding principal of Colliers ABR Inc., one of the predecessor companies of Cushman & Wakefield.
Robert has designed and implemented marketing programs for more than 20 million square feet of office space for owner clients. Additionally, he has represented tenants in some of the firm’s most notable deals in transactions that exceed fifteen million square feet.
He lectures to institutional owners and others on strategies for leasing office buildings and has been a lecturer in the graduate real estate programs at Cornell and Georgetown.
Since 1999, he has formed and successfully liquidated three investment funds acquiring $600 million of Manhattan properties.
He is the Vice Chairman of the Regional Plan Association and a founder of the Steers Center for Global Real Estate at his alma mater Georgetown University.
