Savills : Studley’s Miami Office Taps Shay Coker to Booster Industrial Services Group

Savills Studley, the leading commercial real estate services firm specializing in tenant representation, is pleased to announce the hiring of Shay Coker as a managing director for its Miami office.

Coker will be responsible for growing the industrial services group and leading cross-border transactions with Brazil, Mexico, and the rest of Latin America. With over 20 years of international business experience and 14 years in Brazil, Coker brings with him an intimate understanding of the real estate market in Latin America and the drivers for foreign investment in the US, especially South Florida.

The Industrial Services Group operates throughout the US and includes experts in brokerage, supply chain, logistics, and consulting.

'Miami is the 'Gateway to Latin America', as is evident by hundreds of multinationals that have their Latin American operations in the area,' said Adam Petrillo, Managing Director of the Industrial Services Group. 'Shay's background makes him uniquely qualified to spearhead and differentiate industrial services in the region. The practical experience Shay acquired through 14 years of living and working in Brazil will be invaluable to the firm as we sharpen our global focus.'

Before joining Savills Studley, Coker served as a development manager for TRX, an industrial real estate developer in São Paulo, where he was responsible for build to suit, investment sales, and sale-leaseback transactions. Among several successes, he negotiated the development of a 250,000 square foot refrigerated warehouse in Fortaleza for one of the world's largest food companies, BR Foods.

Prior to this, Coker led AOS Studley's Industrial division in Brazil, where he represented multinational tenants, working to understand his client's true needs and translating them to meet Brazil's sometimes complicated reality. He assisted European companies such as Alstom, Mane, and Servair with site selection, new warehouse leases and land acquisitions.

Coker began his real estate career at JLL in São Paulo, starting as the transaction manager exclusive to P&G and eventually being promoted to lead the industrial department of the Tenant Representation Group. He represented international and Brazilian tenants on leases, renewals, land acquisitions, build to suits, incentives negotiations and consulting assignments. Besides P&G, companies such as VW, Iron Mountain, Yahoo!, and Jaguar Land Rover relied on Coker's expertise to help them accomplish their expansion plans.

'The people at Savills Studley are what attracted me to the company,' said Coker. 'Together they comprise a sophisticated, growing, increasingly global organization that I wanted to be a part of. The company also has a solid foothold in South Florida. I look forward to working together with the experienced brokers of the US market, while also offering real estate advisory services for tenants in Brazil and the rest of Latin America.'

A native Texan, Coker speaks fluent Portuguese and Spanish. He earned an Economics degree at Texas Tech University and completed his MBA at Thunderbird School of Global Management. He is a member of the Brazilian-American Chamber of Commerce of Florida and The Commercial Industrial Association of South Florida.