Women of Commercial Real Estate, It’s Your Time to Shine

We’re committed to creating social, environmental and economic impact through the work that we do every single day. We do it for the people we work with and for, the places we’re honored to be a part of, and our planet – after all, this is the only one we’ve got.

When it comes to our people, we celebrate unique perspectives, creating teams that are representative of the clients and communities we serve. And we continually strive to create environments where people feel healthy, happy and supported – where they belong. 

Empowered people, from all walks of life, working together to constantly move our industry forward. One way we do that is through our long-lasting partnerships with organizations like CREW.

A moment we’ll always be proud of, Mark Rose, our Chair and CEO, was one of the first commercial real estate leaders to sign the Commercial Real Estate Women (CREW) Network’s CRE Pledge for Action. Now, in our fourth year of commitment, we continue to welcome, create opportunities for, support and spotlight women in commercial real estate.

Creating impact in a male-dominated industry

Under the People pillar of our Impact Framework, we track and report on initiatives linked to talent attraction, learning and development, the makeup of our workforce, our supply chain, health and wellbeing, and ethics. Here are some of the highlights:

• Three out of five of our Board of Directors are women, leveraging their unique experience, expertise and passion to drive our business forward.

• One third of our Global Management Committee are women, bringing fresh perspectives and diverse thinking to the table.

• Our focus on a gender balanced workforce is paying off, with a 5% increase in the number of female employees on staff from 37% in 2021 to 42% in 2025.

• We are a proudly Principal-led organization, with 628 Principals leading our company worldwide and 14% of them are women.

• In June, Jennifer Kosloski from our Toronto team was appointed President Elect of Toronto CREW for the 2025/2026 term.

• Since 2021, GlobeSt has recognized almost 40 of us as Women of Influence. We couldn’t be prouder of our winners, and our influence on the industry.

Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) are our not-so-secret way to bring our supportive, inclusive, and engaging workplace culture to life. Operated by volunteer committee members, they bring us so much joy, and value. Our longest-running ERG is Empower: our people creating impact for our women. The group provides a platform and resources for our female employees, welcoming all genders and allies.

The group runs a tight program of events, content and feedback loops to engage, educate and connect our women across the company, alongside partnering with our Global Talent team on important governance and policy issues.

In 2025, we conducted an ERG maturity assessment in partnership with Empower. This provided valuable insights into the state of the group and identified opportunities for continued growth and development – resulting in a multiyear strategy to support its sustained impact for Avison Young and our industry.

The group also celebrated a milestone moment, celebrating the retirement and epic career achievements of Marcy Moneypenny, the previous Executive Sponsor, and welcoming Jayne McColl as our new Sponsor of the group thanks to some seamless succession planning. 

In addition to Empower, we have women at the heart and helm of many of our ERGs:

• Conexión: our people creating impact for our Hispanic community

• Folx: our people creating impact for our LGBTQ+ community

• Roots: our people creating impact for our Black community

• Spark: our people creating impact for our neurodiverse community

Supporting the growth and development of our people – especially our underrepresented groups is a continual focus for us. We have two additional groups under development, one to support our Asian and Pacific employees and one to support our Veterans.

Authentic culture-led growth and development

We are seriously invested in shared success, growing people, places and our business with purpose. And we have a remarkable company culture - one where people truly listen to their clients, and each other.

Although we’ve grown a lot through the years, expanding both our global footprint and our market share, our high-integrity partnership culture and the vision of our founders remain as strong as ever.

As part of our evolving Talent Strategy at Avison Young, we are placing intentional focus on identifying, engaging, and developing female talent across the organization. Our new approach shaped by employee feedback, stakeholder input, and market insights is designed to foster an inclusive culture where all individuals have equitable access to growth opportunities.

This strategy emphasizes structured development, mentorship, and leadership cultivation, with the goal of building a diverse pipeline of future leaders in commercial real estate. By creating a unified ecosystem for growth, we aim to support career advancement across every role and career path, ensuring that female professionals are empowered to thrive and lead.

As we grow, we bring our unique operating model and long-term client-centric thinking with us, creating opportunities for talented people to join us and be a part of our story.

Looking ahead to 2026, we will launch targeted development initiatives and implement a refreshed talent review process that enables us to better understand our talent landscape, identify high-potential individuals, and align them with meaningful development opportunities. These efforts are not only about building skills they’re about creating visibility, access, and support for women to grow into leadership roles and make a lasting impact within Avison Young and the industry at large.