Matthew Ward

Brief Profile

26 years of experience in commercial brokerage and institutional landlord representation for downtown Chicago and high profile properties.

Full Profile

Senior Managing Director

Matthew Ward serves as a senior managing director at Newmark Grubb Knight Frank's Chicago office. Mr. Ward brings to the company 26 years of experience in commercial brokerage and institutional landlord representation. Matthew specializes in large, complex transactions and assignments and has negotiated phased leases with puts and options, vertical subdivisions of office properties, lease to own, joint venture agreements and ground-up development anchor-tenant leases. He is uniquely proficient in transforming assets to align with market demand and his real estate acumen and vision are well-known throughout the industry.

One of the top leasing brokers in downtown Chicago, Mr. Ward has led the leasing and development of several of the city's most recognizable new economy buildings, including 20 West Kinzie and 111 West Illinois. He was also instrumental in bringing Google and salesforce.com to their current locations in downtown Chicago, and in numerous other high-profile deals. His relationships and understanding of Chicago's growing tech community are exceptional.

Mr. Ward joined Newmark Grubb Knight Frank after serving as a senior vice president at The Alter Group, where his responsibilities included marketing the company's overall build-to-suit and speculative capabilities, both locally and nationally. Mr. Ward formulated his strong ownership mentality under the direction of such industry pioneers as Bill Alter. He began his corporate real estate career in 1989, as a senior leasing representative with Rubloff.

An active member of his community, Mr. Ward is a member of the American Diabetes Association's Northern Illinois Chapter. He also coaches youth sports and serves his local parish.

Mr. Ward holds a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Illinois at Chicago and a Bachelor of Science in finance degree cum laude from Illinois State University.