New York, NY According to Mitti Liebersohn, Avison Young president and managing director of the firm’s local office, Brooks Hauf and Erik Sznip have joined the firm as a senior directors. 

Hauf will specialize in tenant representation with a focus on business development. Hauf has completed two million s/f of transactions in his first six years in the business. Prior to joining Avison Young, Hauf spent six years at Cushman & Wakefield, most recently as a director.

“Brooks Hauf is a rising leader in the commercial brokerage industry, and will make strong contributions to Avison Young,” said Liebersohn. “He has proven his ability at establishing strong tenant relationships in Manhattan and will help to further build Avison Young’s leadership in the market.”

Hauf said, “The collaborative atmosphere at Avison Young offers compelling new opportunities for me and my clients. I am looking forward to growing my team here and am confident the culture at Avison Young mirrors my values in putting clients before everything else.”

While at Cushman & Wakefield, Hauf serviced a number of high profile clients including Salesforce.com, Nomura Securities, UBS Wealth Management, Jane Street Capital, AlphaSights, Commerzbank, and W.P. Carey, among others. At Cushman & Wakefield, he also served as President of the firm’s Tri-State Future Leaders group, which included 300 young professionals. In that role, he coordinated continuing education opportunities, charity events, networking opportunities and community service projects. He is also personally active with a host of non-profits ranging from children and veteran’s organizations to those focused on combatting poverty and relationship abuse.

Hauf earned a B.A. in Economics and in History from Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut. He played for four years on the varsity lacrosse team, during which time he won the 2011 Most Inspirational Player of the Year Award.

Sznip will lead strategic consulting services for the firm’s commercial real estate client base including developing customized portfolio and occupancy strategies that minimize costs, maximize value, and optimize the financial, accounting, and tax implications associated with complex real estate transactions. Sznip has over a decade of senior-level advisory and real estate financial consulting experience. He joins the firm from Cushman & Wakefield where he was a senior director in the Strategic Advisory Group.

“Erik Sznip has a depth of advisory and financial expertise that is so critical to analyzing, negotiating and consummating deals,” said Liebersohn. “We expect him to make strong contributions to Avison Young and further build our client relationships and leadership in the New York market.”

Sznip said, “Given Avison Young’s rapid growth, there is tremendous opportunity to expand on the financial advisory services offered to clients. I will seek to further optimize transactions, building on the firm’s financial and qualitative services and providing strategic support to dealmaking.”

For the past eight years, Sznip has developed customized real estate solutions, contributing to lease negotiations, conducting financial modeling, serving as subject matter transaction expert during client engagements, and providing strategic support to solidify the business terms of transactions. He also led and directed workflow for the Strategic Consulting Group at Cushman & Wakefield, including that of junior financial analysts.

Prior to Cushman & Wakefield, Sznip was a senior financial analyst at Colliers in New York for close to five years, focused on quantitative support services for commercial real estate brokerage transactions. He contributed transaction analysis to clients such as Honeywell, GE, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, TIAA, TA and LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, among others. He was also involved in business development, including responding to requests for proposals (RFPs), as well as property and market due diligence, and he assisted in lease negotiations.

Sznip holds a Master of Business Administration as well as a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science and Government from the University of Colorado.