Professional Experience
Laura Patel is a Managing Director and Global Head of Sales & Client Solutions with CBRE’s Business Analytics division. Leveraging a suite of proprietary tools and technology, Laura and her team partner with CBRE account teams and clients at the cross-section of data and real estate to help businesses make informed decisions. Laura oversees the Business Analytics Sales and Client Solutions team globally, delivering business intelligence solutions across CBRE’s Global Workplace Solutions (GWS) and Advisory lines of business, supporting embedded strategists, providing variable consulting services, and promoting the enablement of a data driven culture.
Laura’s deep knowledge and expertise across business intelligence and account strategy has been influential within the commercial real estate industry for almost 15 years. Prior to joining CBRE, she spent more than a decade on the property technology (PropTech) space, first with DIRTT, a publicly traded digital construction firm, and most recently, Density, a venture-backed Series-D unicorn, providing anonymous sensor technology. Specializing in enterprise organizations, Laura has built and supported seven-figure relationships with more than a dozen Fortune 500™ companies over the span of her career, helping those firms implement sophisticated technology and data strategies to better meet their organizational goals and accelerate business outcomes.
An active member of the New York real estate community, Laura serves on the board of CoreNet New York City, and on Urban Land Institute’s Technology and Innovation Council. In line with her work, Laura’s interests lie at the intersection of innovation and commercial real estate. Passionate about the value of data science, automation, and AI tools, Laura has spoken at nearly two dozen exhibitions and conferences around the world including The World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting of New Champions (Dalian, China), MIT’s Real Estate in a Time of Fundamental Change (NYC, NY), CoreNet NYC’s Crisis as Catalyst: COVID-19's Impact on Real Estate Innovation (New York, NY), and Fordham University’s PropTech 2020: Modernizing Real Estate Operations and Management (New York, NY).
Laura has a Bilingual Bachelor of Commerce with Distinction from the University of Alberta, with a major in finance and a minor in marketing. She has been the recipient of the Top Innovators & Disruptors award from America on Tech, Top Women in Real Estate award from Sokol Media (2017), and Top 20 Under 35 Real Estate Professionals award from the Commercial Observer. (2018) A travel enthusiast, she has visited 40 countries— most recently exploring Taiwan, Bosnia, and Guatemala.
Education
- Bilingual Bachelor of Commerce with Distinction from the University of Alberta, with a major in finance and a minor in marketing