Jameson Real Estate

Gay Johnson, Vice President and Managing Broker

Gay Johnson
Vice President & Managing Broker
Jameson Real Estate

Build on strengths…

— Peter Drucker

Gay Johnson’s level of talent and expertise comes from 20-plus years in real estate. Following a successful career in marketing management in the software industry, her experience spans several years in commercial, then residential, sales. Under Johnson’s leadership, Jameson has grown from 52 to nearly 300 agents, with two offices, producing a 42 percent increase in the volume of transactions. She has been instrumental in building a stronger business platform with diversified commercial groups including business brokerage and auctions, REO, short sales, luxury, rental and developments, as well as buyer and listing brokerage. Johnson supervises the newly created agent services division to streamline marketing and resources for agents and created a comprehensive orientation/new agent training to get new agents transitioned to Jameson quickly and seamlessly. Johnson spearheads Jameson’s technology and website initiatives, and most recently helped Jameson.com tie for a top website grade based on research conducted by Chicago Agent.

Additional members of the executive management team at Jameson: Michael Sato-President, Elana Spector-VP of Marketing and Chris Feurer-CEO

The Facts

How many years have you been a managing broker? 5, sales manager for 7
How many years have you been in real estate? 22
How many full-time agents are in your office? 275

The Details

Does your office have any specialties? In the commercial section, Jameson is active in multi-family, retail sales and leasing, office, land, industrial and business brokerage. Our residential expertise includes resale list- ings and buyer brokerage, developments, short sales, REO, auction and rental. Jameson means experienced agents and service beyond the traditional brokerage all under one roof.

What kind of marketing assistance do you provide? Jameson is proud to provide our agents with a fullservice in-house marketing department with talented graphic designers, and an agent services department to assist agents’ sales efforts. Our goal is to continue to produce the most progressive marketing materials in the industry and to employ the latest in Internet strategies.

How are you approaching the challenges of the current market? Simply stated, we are agile. Our size and structure allow us to change and adapt to the current market by continually creating new opportunities for agents by adding experts in key areas and providing training, such as short sales, REO, etc.

About You — Gay Johnson

What makes you different than any other managing broker? A combination of sales and management skills, with a strong technology background and the support of our solid management team.

What was your history before being a managing broker? Commercial sales, residential sales and the director of national accounts for a major software com- pany where I increased national account sales by 650 percent in two years.

What kind of training do you have? I have a bachelor’s and master’s in advertising from The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

What do you like most about the neighborhood where you work? Jameson’s main Old Town office is accessible to agents and clients and located in a great neighborhood, which allows us to be active members of the community.

What is your favorite part about being a managing broker? Helping each agent capitalize on their strengths and achieve their highest level of success.

Why do you love real estate? It is entrepreneurial, and there are no limits to success.