Chuck Witters: Office Broker of the Year

Chuck Witters remembers his first business deal. It was the 1950s, and he was dressed as Tonto to accompany his older brother's Lone Ranger. Witters was to perform a Native American dance for his sisters, who would then give him a nickel.

After thinking about it, Witters decided opportunity was knocking and revised the terms: He would dance for 10 cents -- and not a penny less.

Witters, the youngest of seven siblings raised in Chicago, remains today a deal maker. He has been named Office Broker of the Year for four consecutive years by the Southern Nevada chapter of the National Association of Industrial and Office Properties.

"One of the reasons I'm especially proud is that I was picked by out-of-state judges," said Witters, who works in the Las Vegas office of Lee and Associates. "It's not like they were locals who said, `We like Chuck and we're going to pick him. ... I just feel extremely honored, and I can't say that it was expected that I was going to win it four years in a row."

Witters' acceptance speech at an awards ceremony in March was fitting, and contained some elements of his dead-on style, the same approach he takes to business. Witters mentioned how he never would have won the award without the help of Suzette LaGrange, an office broker at CB Richard Ellis, and also thanked local developers for putting their money at risk.

One of those developers was Tim Snow, president of Thomas and Mack Development Group. He has known Witters for seven years.

"We consider Chuck to be one of the top office professionals in town," Snow said. "In his profession as an office broker, he is extremely thorough and well-prepared. Those positive traits help him in working with the clients' needs and well as the property itself."

Witters credits his success to the fact that people can "take his word to the bank." His aggressiveness, he said, is rooted in his high school days, when he was a member of the basketball, football and baseball teams.

"Starting out with sports, then academics and work, and now commercial real estate ... I am a competitor," Witters said.

He also cites an element of control, which Witters found lacking during his more than a dozen years at companies such as Mobil Corp. and Fluor Corp. He specialized in management, marketing and finance in those days, but was never comfortable with what he called "corporate politics."

When Witters joined Lee and Associates in 1984, he had found a niche in commercial real estate.

"I had a good position with the corporations, but it was a cumulative effect over the 14-plus years seeing how corporate politics could control your life potentially more than you could control your life at work," he said. "I didn't wake up one morning and say, "Hey, I want to be a commercial real estate broker. I just wanted to be my own boss. An interesting thing is that I work much harder for myself than I ever did for any of my corporations."

Witters has been a member of NAIOP's local board of directors for six consecutive years. He is also a director for the National Society of Industrial and Office Realtors, and a trustee for the National SIOR Educational Foundation.

Of the nine local members of the society, three are "office" members, according to Witters, who said the SIOR designation is "the highest designation you can get."

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