2026 Ones to Watch - Rising Stars: Jacob Brenner, Adirondack Capital Partners

What accomplishment or project so far in your career are you most proud of?

Helping lead the sale of Omni Plaza, a 415,000 s/f, two-tower office portfolio in the core of downtown Albany, NY. Both buildings were significantly under-occupied, so the assignment wasn’t about selling existing cash flow. It was about helping the market see what the asset could become. We positioned the offering on its value-add and adaptive-reuse upside, delivering a basis well below replacement cost and a buyer planning to convert space into roughly 120 market-rate apartments. It reflects a thesis I believe in: recognizing value others overlook is the heart of this business.

Who has been a mentor or influential figure in your career, and what is the most valuable advice they have shared with you?

Michael Coghill, my managing partner. Having come up when the industry was much different, he sees shifts coming before most firms realize they’ve already missed them. He operates with a rare combination of discipline, integrity, and generosity, and his ability to read both information and people is a genuine superpower I hope to grow into. The most valuable lesson I’ve taken from him: just because something has always been done one way doesn’t make it the best way. That mindset now shapes how I approach every assignment.

What inspired you to pursue a career in your industry, and what path brought you to your current role?

I left college with degrees in International Trade and Geography, which trained me to see markets and places as one connected system. My first role led pricing strategy and market intelligence at a national logistics firm, where I learned to turn data into decisions. Three years in, I wanted a field where that analytical edge could compound into something bigger. A conversation with my mentor, Michael Coghill, about commercial real estate changed my trajectory. CRE struck me as a giant puzzle: there are no rules in this business, only conventions, and conventions are made to be outperformed.

What trends or opportunities do you see shaping the future of your industry?

I’m betting on a more balanced future for the business. AI will streamline the backend lift of our work, but that’s exactly why the people side becomes the deciding factor. The time we save must be reinvested into long-term, meaningful relationships, which I believe will separate the firms that last from the ones that don’t. I also see scope broadening. For decades, most professionals lived in a single lane. We’re now able to move across asset classes with relative ease, and since each runs its own cycle, the edge goes to those who can track those trends in real time.