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CBRE Group, Inc.

Commercial Real Estate Services and InvestmentFounded 1906
Reviewed by Swet Parvadiya
Company data updated: October 2026

Founders

Who Founded CBRE?

Colbert Coldwell, Arthur Banker · Founded 1906 · HQ today: Dallas, Texas

Who founded CBRE?

CBRE was founded by Colbert Coldwell, Arthur Banker in 1906. It is now led by Robert E. Sulentic.

Founders
Colbert Coldwell, Arthur Banker
Founded
1906
Headquarters
Dallas, Texas
Number of founders
2
Current CEO
Robert E. Sulentic (since 2012)
Where was CBRE founded?
CBRE was founded in Dallas, Texas in 1906.
When was CBRE founded?
CBRE was founded in 1906.
Who started CBRE?
CBRE was founded by Colbert Coldwell and Arthur Banker.
How old is CBRE?
CBRE is 120 years old as of 2026.

Founding Story

CBRE traces its origins to San Francisco in 1906, after the earthquake and fires destroyed much of the city. Some brokers took advantage of property owners in the aftermath. Colbert Coldwell, a 23-year-old broker, founded a firm on a different principle: it would act only as an agent for its clients and would not buy or sell property for its own account. That reputation for integrity became the base on which CBRE was built.

Colbert Coldwell

Co-founder 1906

Background

Colbert Coldwell was a San Francisco real estate broker who started the firm that became CBRE in 1906, after the earthquake and fire, with a focus on representing clients rather than speculating for the firm's own account.

Role at CBRE Group, Inc.

Colbert Coldwell founded the business in San Francisco in 1906 (originally Tucker, Lynch & Coldwell) as the city rebuilt after the earthquake and fire. He built its reputation on acting for clients instead of trading property for the firm's own account. Arthur Banker joined in 1913, and the firm became Coldwell, Banker & Company, growing into a major West Coast brokerage. That firm's commercial business later became CB Commercial (1989), CB Richard Ellis (1998), and today's CBRE.

Arthur Banker

Co-founder 1913

Background

Benjamin Arthur Banker joined Colbert Coldwell as a partner in 1913, giving the firm the Coldwell Banker name.

Role at CBRE Group, Inc.

Arthur Banker became Colbert Coldwell's partner in 1913, and the firm took the name Coldwell, Banker & Company. The partnership expanded across California in the following decades and established the Coldwell Banker brand. Its commercial arm later became CBRE, while the residential Coldwell Banker brand is now owned by a separate company.

CBRE Group, Inc.: CEO & Leadership History

Full timeline →

Vikram Kohli

Chief Operating Officer and CEO, Advisory Services

2025 – Present

As COO, he manages the complex global operational structure for over 130,000 employees, ensuring strict cost controls amid the severe downturn in commercial real estate transactions.

Jamie Hodari

CEO, Building Operations & Experience and Chief Commercial Officer

2025 – Present

Following CBRE's massive investment into Industrious, Hodari (as Industrious CEO) manages CBRE's flexible workspace strategy, successfully capturing enterprise clients abandoning traditional office leases.

Robert E. Sulentic

Chair, President and Chief Executive Officer

2012 – Present

Bob Sulentic has been CBRE's CEO since December 2012 and also serves as chair. He joined CBRE through the 2006 Trammell Crow Company acquisition, where he had been CEO, and served as CBRE's CFO and president before taking the top job. Under his leadership CBRE bought Johnson Controls' Global Workplace Solutions (2015), a majority stake in Turner & Townsend (2021), J&J Worldwide Services (2024), and Industrious and Pearce Services (2025), shifting the mix toward contract-based and infrastructure services. CBRE moved its headquarters to Dallas in 2020 and reached record revenue of $40.55 billion in 2025. He holds a computer science degree from Iowa State University and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Brett White

Former Chief Executive Officer

2005 – 2012

As CEO, he navigated the catastrophic 2008 financial crisis, ruthlessly cutting costs to save the company before stepping down in 2012 (and later moving to rival Cushman & Wakefield).

Keep researching CBRE

Who Founded CBRE? FAQ

Who founded CBRE and in what year was the firm established?

CBRE traces its founding to August 27, 1906, in San Francisco, California, when Colbert Coldwell established a commercial real estate brokerage named Tucker, Lynch & Coldwell following the catastrophic 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fires.

Who was Arthur Banker and when did the firm become Coldwell Banker?

Arthur Banker joined Colbert Coldwell as a partner in 1913, and in 1920 the firm officially adopted the name Coldwell, Banker & Company, establishing a reputation for high ethical standards and client representation across California.

What ethical principle did Colbert Coldwell establish that transformed real estate brokerage?

Colbert Coldwell established the founding rule that the firm would never buy or trade real estate for its own account in competition with clients, operating purely as a fiduciary broker to eliminate conflicts of interest.

Who was Richard Ellis and how does the international name link to CBRE?

Richard Ellis was an English surveyor and auctioneer who established Richard Ellis International in London in 1773. In 1998, Coldwell Banker Commercial acquired Richard Ellis's international operations, merging to form CB Richard Ellis (later shortened to CBRE).

How was Coldwell Banker Commercial acquired by Sears and subsequently spun off?

In 1981, retail conglomerate Sears, Roebuck and Co. acquired Coldwell Banker. In 1989, Sears spun off the commercial operations through a management-led buyout to create Coldwell Banker Commercial, which later became CB Commercial.

Who was Richard C. Blum and what was his role in building modern CBRE?

Richard C. Blum's Blum Capital was a long-time CBRE investor and Blum served as chairman; Blum Capital was part of the investor group that took the company private in 2001 before its 2004 return to the NYSE.

Who was Trammell Crow and what was his well-known real estate legacy?

Trammell Crow was a Texas developer who founded Trammell Crow Company in Dallas in 1948, pioneering speculative warehouse industrial parks and building well-known skyscrapers before his firm merged into CBRE in 2006.

What is the lasting legacy of CBRE's founders across the global real estate industry?

From Colbert Coldwell's ethical brokerage code in 1906 to Richard Ellis's London property advisory in 1773, the founders established the institutional standards, fiduciary transparency, and global scale that govern modern commercial real estate today.

Who founded CBRE?

The firm is named after Colbert Coldwell and Benjamin Banker (eventually becoming Coldwell Banker). In 1989, the commercial division was bought out and eventually became CB Richard Ellis (CBRE).

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Content is for informational purposes only. Not financial advice. Data sourced from SEC filings, annual reports, and public records. See our full disclaimer and methodology.