James (Jimmy) D. Kuhn is the firm’s President and Head of Investor Services and is a principal of and shareholder in Newmark. In his role, Kuhn aligns all brokerage activity for leasing, investment sales, and debt & equity placement, and maximizes the collaboration of brokerage functions with valuation, global corporate services, property management and all related service and specialty practice groups. Kuhn also founded and leads Newmark’s Technology and Innovation practice group.
With more than 6,500 employees worldwide, Newmark operates from approximately 170 global offices. The firm’s merger with BGC Partners, Inc. in 2011 led to one of the fastest-growing Capital Markets practices in the world through the acquisition of over 50 assets including that of Grubb & Ellis Company in 2012; the acquisition of Cornish & Carey and ARA, the largest national multifamily practice, in 2014; and the acquisition of Berkeley Point Capital in 2017 - reinforcing Newmark’s Capital Markets platform with real estate investment banking and debt & equity capabilities. Newmark went public on Nasdaq in December 2017 under the symbol NMRK.
Kuhn joined Newmark in 1992 after 15 years in partnership with Bernard Mendik, as owner/manager, where he acquired 11 million square feet of office space and 6,000 apartments; the company was sold to Vornado in 1997.
Memberships and Appointments
Kuhn is a member of the Board of Trustees at Syracuse University and serves as the head of its Athletics Committee. He also endowed the James D. Kuhn Real Estate Center at the Whitman School of Management at Syracuse University and established the Leo and Sunnie Kuhn Scholarship for Entrepreneurial Studies. Kuhn is also Chairman of the Advisory Board of NYU’s Schack Institute of Real Estate.
In 2008, he established the James and Marjorie Kuhn Program to Foster Diversity in Real Estate Scholarship at NYU Schack. Kuhn is also the Chairman of the Board of Directors for the Westhampton Beach Performing Arts Center (WHBPAC).
Endowments
- James D. Kuhn Real Estate Center at the Whitman School of Management at Syracuse University
- The James and Marjorie Kuhn Program to Foster Diversity in Real Estate at the NYU Schack Institute of Real Estate; funded a support program for LGBTQ+ community in real estate
- Funded Syracuse University School of Visual and Performing Arts’ Student Film Fund
- Leo J. Kuhn Lobby for the School of Architecture at Pratt Institute
- James Kuhn Fund for Fencing at Stuyvesant High School
- Grant to NYU Langone Medical Center
- James Kuhn Fund for Underprivileged Children for the San Antonio Fencing Club
- Funded a scholarship for members of The Butterfly Effect Project, a nonprofit for young women of color, to attend the WHBPAC theater program
Education
Kuhn holds a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in Finance and a Master of Business Administration degree in Real Estate from Syracuse University.