Avison Young’s New Jersey team is based in Morristown — Courtesy: Avison Young
By Joshua Burd
Two longtime partners and business development experts have joined Avison Young’s New Jersey office, the real estate services firm announced Thursday.
Chris Borgese and Paulo Santos, both vice presidents, come to AY’s Morristown-based team after seven years with JLL. They will focus on business development, the firm said, touting their role in sparking several highest-profile commercial real estate deals in recent years.
“Paulo and Chris have earned a stellar reputation for bringing commercial real estate solutions to the challenges confronting New Jersey’s leading employers, landlords and tenants,” said Jeffrey L. Heller, an AY principal and managing director of its New Jersey offices. “As Avison Young continues to grow and expand its capacity for serving new and existing clients, Chris and Paulo will fuel a steady pipeline of client needs for New Jersey’s occupier, investor and specialty teams.”

Borgese and Santos worked together at Real Estate Strategies Corp. before joining JLL as a business development team in 2015, Avison Young said in a news release. According to the firm, they have been instrumental in developing relationships with and providing commercial real estate services to the likes of Brother International Corp., Dassault Falcon Jet Corp., Hunter Douglas, International Flavors & Fragrances Inc., Schindler Elevator Corp. and Sharp Corp.
Santos has more than two decades of experience working with database technologies, web development, programming and growing businesses, the news release said. Before JLL, he served as vice president of operations, technology and innovation while serving more than 12 years at Real Estate Strategies Corp.
“Chris and I take a yin-and-yang approach to business development,” Santos said. “He has a relationship driven, people-first style that garners great results, while my focus is on the tech side, using artificial intelligence and data tools to do my business development.”

For his part, Borgese has more than 15 years of sales and relationship management experience in the commercial real estate and financial services industries. In addition to JLL, he served as a relationship manager at Real Estate Strategies Corp. and as vice president of sales at PATRINA Corp., having also directed trading operations at Caliber Financial Management.
“Our complementary styles enable us to cover a lot of ground,” Borgese said. “Our sole focus is connecting business decision makers with the right resources to help them to achieve their real estate objectives. We are excited to quickly integrate and collaborate with the Avison Young team to make an immediate, positive and lasting impact.”