Examine the biographies of most commercial real estate brokers, and a commonality that emerges is participation in competitive sports, where they often excelled. Voit Associate and Life Science Specialist Chris Durbin of the San Diego office fits that description, shining as a competitive swimmer and lacrosse player while growing up in Southern New Jersey. That competitive spirit was not left on the field or in the pool.
“I wanted to be the best at anything I did when I was growing up, so that translated into academics as well,” says Durbin. “It was a huge part of my upbringing, and it’s a pretty core component of my personality. So, it’s a trait that I bring to my professional career today.”
Durbin, son of a defense industry engineer and a school nurse, grew up in a stable home. That changed during his sophomore year, when Superstorm Sandy blasted his hometown in 2012, taking 38 lives, causing $30 billion in business losses, and damaging 346,000 homes in New Jersey. “Our home, our community, got destroyed, and it turned life upside down for a good while,” recalls Durbin. There were boats and other debris littered throughout the community, and his family’s home needed major renovations over an extended period. “From going through the devastation of Hurricane Sandy, I decided to put my head down and work hard to get good grades to get into the universities I sought after. There was something within me that wanted me to really chase what I wanted, because I learned the lesson of how quickly things can change.”
College and Early Career
Durbin began applying to colleges the following year with the idea of pursuing a career as a chemical engineer or in another math- or science-related field. He was also an avid surfer, so he narrowed his focus to California schools. This led him to California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo, where he majored in chemistry. His career choice was rooted more in practicality than passion, he concedes. He briefly considered switching to construction management but stayed with his science studies because he knew it would keep him engaged.
After flirting with the idea of pursuing a career in the wine industry—having worked in a winery tasting room on weekends during his senior year of college and doing his senior project on wine chemistry—he moved to Pacific Beach in San Diego in 2019 to put his chemistry degree to use. Chris got a job in quality assurance at a biotech firm headquartered in San Diego. While he loved the SoCal lifestyle and the financial security his job provided, he began to long for more from his career.
The Real Estate Bug Bites
Although Durbin had no connection to the real estate industry, he began hearing more about it from his friends and extended network. “One common theme of successful people in Southern California that became apparent to me was that they were involved in real estate,” says Durbin. “They were either working or investing in it, and it just seemed to resurface in conversations over and over again.”
His academic curiosity aroused, he began educating himself on the business of commercial real estate, first through conversations and networking, then through videos and podcasts, and finally by enrolling in online CRE financial modeling courses. “The more I learned about it, the more I became fascinated with the math and the kind of financial engineering you can apply to real estate problems,” he says. “At the same time, I’m working in biotech and not really feeling motivated by my day-to-day. I could see the long-term trajectory of the career path I was on, and it wasn’t where I saw myself over the next 10, 15, or 20 years. And the more I learned about commercial real estate, the more interested I became.”
Making the Leap
While Durbin was not actively seeking to change careers, he became more aware of how many in his friend group and their extended networks were involved in some aspect of the industry: construction, brokerage, investment firms, or property management. “I think the catalyst for me was when I was working my W2 job and realized that, whether I do a phenomenal job or a mediocre job, the resulting paycheck was going to be the same,” Durbin explains. “I’m 24 years old at the time, and I had this entrepreneurial fire within me. I could feel it burning inside my belly, so I started looking up side hustles and other ways to creatively make money because my day-to-day nine-to-five wasn’t cutting it.”
When COVID struck, his passion for building things returned, and it became an outlet for his entrepreneurial spirit—in the form of a business where he purchased, repaired, and resold bicycles. More than the financial reward, “it was a really cool entrepreneurial exercise that I was doing—marrying engineering and business interests,” Durbin affirms.
While his interest in CRE and entrepreneurial excitement were simultaneously brewing, he began to reflect on times in his life when he didn’t take chances—academically or career-wise—and regretted it. “I didn’t want to leave myself with the ‘What-If?’ of not pivoting, so I began reaching out to friends to help with introductions to meet with real estate professionals within a variety of different roles.”
His goal was to parlay his unique background in academics and biotech into a position in real estate. After a year of coffee, lunches, and other meetings with people in the industry, Chris finally landed an interview with the managing director of Voit’s San Diego region through college friends who worked at Voit. “We had a great conversation. We talked about my background, Voit’s experience in the life science market, and the firm’s lack of specialization in that area. There was a gap that needed to be filled at Voit, where I could come in and be the ‘life sciences guy’ with my background.”
Joining Voit
At Voit, all recruits are paired with a mentor for their runnership. Durbin was paired with Senior Vice President Brandon Keith. “He’s an expert in all aspects of commercial real estate and one of the sharpest brokers in the office. He was integral in coaching me up to speed on how to approach clients and negotiations, how to run transactions, and to establish the systems and processes needed to be a successful broker,” Durbin says.
While Durbin was able to generate some life science deals with the help of Keith and his own prospecting, he learned the basics of dealmaking by also doing office and industrial deals. “By collaborating with other brokers in the office for assignments in the life sciences sector,” Durbin explains, “we’re able to bring their real estate experience and leverage my life science background to put together a well-rounded team for the client.”
Now in his third year as a broker, Durbin is beginning to find consistent success.
Durbin’s first notable transaction occurred in August 2025, representing Arnatar Therapeutics in the leasing of a 9,461-square-foot lab and office headquarters (a $1.44 million deal). The end of 2025 produced two more milestones: the leasing of a 22,990-square-foot manufacturing building in Poway, representing Light Composites ($2.04 million), and the leasing of a 45,425-square-foot office space representing DFA Investment Group with Brandon Keith.
Building on the momentum, Durbin successfully closed two more significant leases in March of 2026, partnering with Senior Associate Miles Arnold. The team represented NAAG Forensic PC in leasing a 12,194-square-foot flex facility for its medical laboratory ($2.92 million) and Satomic, Inc. in leasing a 12,149-square-foot laboratory ($3.85 million). Durbin and Arnold had previously represented Satomic in leasing 3,212 square feet just six months prior to their expansion.
Durbin attributes his early success to the same ingredients that made him successful both athletically and academically. “I think it’s just been the commitment,” he asserts. “Brokerage is not a nine-to-five job; it’s a five-to-nine. I’m usually one of the first people in the office and one of the last to leave, which has been the case since the start. I’ve been told you get out what you put into this industry, and I’ve taken that to heart. I made this career switch knowing that it’s an entrepreneurial venture, a commission-only role, where you can’t just put it in cruise control—you have to keep your pedal to the metal.”
Additional broker profiles are scheduled over the next few months. Check back to see who we highlight next.