One of its veteran brokers and executives has been named CEO of NAI Friedland Realty Inc., the commercial real estate company based in Yonkers. The 40-year-old brokerage went outside its ranks, however, to fill its new CEO”™s former post of chief operations officer.
Anthony “Tony” Lembeck, who joined NAI Friedland in 1995, was appointed to the chief executive position by Robert Friedland, the firm”™s founder and chairman. Lembeck succeeds Stephen Oder, who left Friedland Realty in April 2009, when Lembeck was appointed its COO, according to a company spokesperson.
Joining the Yonkers company as COO is Jay Olshonsky, who spent 15 years as managing director and senior vice president of CB Richard Ellis in Washington. Olshonsky called his new realty company “a true gem with a long history as a dominating force in the region.”
Lembeck previously was executive vice president and manager of Friedland”™s industrial division. Throughout his career he represented large property holders in both Westchester and the Bronx, including Lockheed Martin Corp. on multiple deals. As a broker, Lembeck is said to have earned a reputation as a good and savvy negotiator.
Olshonsky has 27 years of experience as a deal maker and manager in the commercial real estate industry. At CB Richard Ellis, he oversaw the company”™s metropolitan offices in Washington, Maryland, and northern Virginia, responsible for profits and losses of an operation with more than 75 commissioned brokers and 225 employees that produced $109 million of gross revenue. As a broker, he has represented both owners and occupiers in multimillion-dollar sales and leasing transactions.
As senior vice president at CB Richard Ellis, Olshonky helped spearhead efforts in the field of emerging renewable energy with national utility companies and solar providers, placing solar energy systems at sites such as industrial parks, warehouses and shopping malls.
Olshonsky is former chairman of the National Association of Realtors Commercial Alliance and a past president of the Washington, D.C. Association of Realtors and Greater Washington, D.C. Commercial Association of Realtors. He received his bachelor”™s degree in business administration from Arizona State University.
A Goldens Bridge resident, where he lives with his wife Andrea and their four children, Lembeck arrived in commercial real estate by a roundabout route. Before joining Friedland, he practiced real estate law in Manhattan. He also ran a textile importing company, worked as a New York City theater producer and owned a boys sports summer camp in Maine.
Lembeck serves on the board of Family Services of Westchester. For 17 years, he has helped the nonprofit agency run Camp Viva, a one-week summer camp and year-round program for families and patients affected by HIV and AIDS that Lembeck helped found.
The CEO received a bachelor”™s degree from Rollins College in Winter Park, Fla., and a law degree from the University of Miami School of Law.
In a prepared statement, Lembeck said the addition of Olshonsky is what the Friedland company needs to increase its market share.
“He brings to us ”˜big firm”™ experience and believes our company has the potential to gain market share in every aspect of our business,” he said. “I look forward to working with him and know we will be a great team.”
Friedland, the company”™s founding chairman, said the leadership change marks “an exciting time” at NAI Friedland, headquartered at 656 Central Park Ave. in Yonkers. “I am confident that Tony and Jay, both forward-thinking industry leaders with decades of experience, will prove invaluable to our firm as we begin a new chapter in our company”™s history,” he said.
