By Joshua Burd
Newmark Associates has bolstered its sales team with two former residential brokers, the latest new hires for the Cedar Knolls-based firm.

In a news release, Newmark announced that Benjamin Koch has joined its ranks after beginning his career as a residential realtor. He received his first commercial real estate client while with Realty One Group, prompting him to pivot from residential properties.
“Coupled with an excellent work ethic and enthusiasm, Ben’s ability to create and maintain attentive, detail-oriented communications with clients allows for building the types of relationships key to managing realty transactions,” Newmark wrote in a news release. “A resident of Montville, New Jersey, since birth, Benjamin is initially cultivating his hometown and the surrounding Morris County market where he offers buyer/seller agency and tenant/landlord representation.”
Koch also plans to develop property management expertise and branch out into Essex and Passaic counties, the news release said. He attended the University of Delaware for two years before obtaining his real estate license at the School of American Business.

Newmark also announced the hiring of Marjorie Dorne Murphy, whose experience includes working as an executive assistant to a former U.S. Treasury secretary and personal lines appraiser for the Chubb Group. She has also served as a construction manager for a high-profile architectural firm in Morristown and property manager for luxury condominium buildings in Hoboken and Jersey City.
Murphy has maintained an active referral realtor license for nearly 20 years, the firm said. She has transferred to commercial real estate with the Newmark team.
“Her experience working for high-profile industry leaders in both executive assistant and management positions has cultivated in her a strong and sound work ethic, an instinctive ability to listen to customers and a relentless approach to problem-solving,” Newmark wrote. “She has proven her commitment of serving the public with meticulous follow-up in project management; and above all, a respect for people, their needs and their time.”
The lifelong New Jersey resident graduated from the University of Hawaii at Manoa with a bachelor’s of education, the news release said. She taught for several years before entering the insurance industry as a personal lines appraiser.