The approach that Voit Senior Vice President and Partner Brian Mulvaney takes in his role as a broker—and in life—may be best summed up in the advice that he gives to those he has mentored over the years:
“You’ve always got to do the right thing—even when no one is watching.”
It’s a philosophy that has guided him well throughout his nearly four-decade career as a San Diego-based broker and in his tireless philanthropic work (which we detailed in a 2023 article). The youngest of seven children, Mulvaney grew up in San Diego. His father, Jim Mulvaney, was a lawyer, president of U.S. National Bank, and president of the Padres in the Pacific Coast League era and later served as vice president and general counsel for the team. With seven children to raise, his mother worked as a stay-at-home mom.
Even more important to his development, though, was the emphasis his parents placed on giving back, whether through hands-on philanthropy or direct mentoring. Jim Mulvaney, Sr. was the Chairman of the Board for Father Joe’s Villages and maintained involvement in numerous nonprofit boards and organizations for over 50 years. Brian’s brother Jim also served on the Board of Directors for 30 years, and Brian also served on the management board and the properties committee at Father Joe’s. “As a family, we were always involved in philanthropy,” says Mulvaney.
Work and Education
His parents also instilled a strong work ethic in him at a young age. His first “real” job was at Vacation Village (now known as Paradise Point Resort & Spa) on Mission Bay, where he worked as a dock worker in the summer and a sailing instructor in the winter, but he began doing a variety of small jobs at the age of 12. “I was doing odd jobs for my neighbors before I even had a Social Security number, and I shined my dad’s shoes for 25 cents a pair,” he jokes.
Mulvaney attended Catholic school in his early years, but an interest in a public speaking course drew him to La Jolla High, one of the nation’s top-rated public high schools. After a foot injury sidelined him from traditional sports like football and baseball, he turned to surfing—a passion he continues to pursue to this day. “I ended up doing well at La Jolla. I got better grades and won a couple of public speaking competitions,” Mulvaney says. “It helped me build my confidence, and I thought about going into the TV industry and becoming a newscaster.”
He enrolled at UC Santa Barbara, still planning to pursue a career in either television or advertising. While in college, he worked as a counselor and special education assistant at the Devereux School for the Developmentally Disabled and interned at the American Heart Association and Image Makers Advertising Agency.
As he continued his studies, a series of events convinced him to change his career track. The first was a disillusionment with the ethics of advertising. “I was taking classes and doing research, and I realized that in advertising, you end up selling things that you don’t believe in or aren’t necessarily good for somebody,” he recalls. The second was an encounter with one of his fraternity brothers, who told him that when he graduated, he was going to work with Coldwell Banker selling commercial real estate and make $50,000 in his first year. “That was a lot of money in 1985,” says Mulvaney, “and I’m a young kid with nothing, riding my bicycle to school, and I thought, ‘I could buy a lot of surfboards with that kind of money.’ I had never really thought about real estate before, and that kind of opened my eyes to it.”
Transitioning to Real Estate
Mulvaney soon abandoned the idea of going into television or advertising and earned his real estate license in his senior year. After graduating, his parents gave him a Eurail Pass, and he spent his summer “doing Europe on $5 a day.” When he returned, he worked as a limousine driver while interviewing for positions at real estate firms. While driving for a wedding party, he met a broker who worked at C.W. Clark, a small real estate company based in La Jolla, and soon began working at the company—starting as a researcher before being given a runnership that launched his brokerage career.
He focused primarily on industrial, with some office deals, but in a small company, there was limited formal training, “so I pretty much had to figure it out on my own,” he recalls. “Back then, we had just started using computers, so we were using the old 3-by-5 card file system, so the transition to using computers and a CRM was challenging.” Still, Mulvaney succeeded by beating the bushes, developing relationships with business parks, and working with tenants. He performed well enough to draw the attention of senior leadership at national firm Grubb & Ellis (now Newmark), which recruited him in 1993.
Professional Learning and Growth
Once there, his career took off. He sourced a listing for a $150 million portfolio of four asset types (multifamily, retail, office, and self-storage) and was able to increase the size of the transactions he completed. In addition to leasing assignments, he sold several business parks in the Central San Diego market and closed multiple land development deals. While he received minimal mentoring from his team leaders, he found the most significant boost to his skill set came from earning designations as a member of two elite commercial real estate organizations—CCIM (Certified Commercial Investment Member) and SIOR (Society of Industrial and Office Realtors) while at Grubb & Ellis.
“Instead of having specific mentors, CCIM and SIOR are where I learned to up my game. You have to qualify to be a CCIM, take fairly rigorous coursework, and have a portfolio of transactions to qualify,” says Mulvaney, who adds that SIOR has similar requirements. “I’ve been a member of SIOR for 23 years now, and they provide members with a great education. You are exposed to and work with other top-shelf brokers across the country. SIOR and CCIM have been really instrumental in my growth.”
Recruited by Voit
After establishing a reputation as a top producer in San Diego for multiple years with Grubb & Ellis, Mulvaney and five of his teammates were recruited by Voit in 2000 as the company expanded. His former firm was more institutional and somewhat rigid, and he was drawn to Voit’s entrepreneurial character. “There are less restrictions, we’ve got a great platform and have the opportunity to do quality brokerage work while being more flexible on how we do things,” says Mulvaney. Voit offered the opportunity to work on various types of deals (investment and owner-user sales, leasing) across asset types without being pigeonholed into one role. “If I want to hire people to work for me or deviate from the standard CRE protocol, Voit provides me with that flexibility to shift what I am doing and still make a good living.”
Mulvaney has adapted his skill set to his market, leaning heavily into the tech and life sciences sectors and working with firms like Qualcomm and General Atomics, while continuing industrial and office sales and leasing. He also maintains his client-first credo in all of his business dealings, as exemplified by this recent transaction:
Client Relationship Spotlight: Poway Industrial Building (52,000 SF)
A few years ago, Mulvany and his team sold a 52,000-square-foot, 50% occupied industrial building to a client. Shortly after closing, they secured two short-term storage leases for the vacant space, and the existing tenant later expanded to occupy the entire building.
This year, the tenant needed to downsize back to half the building. The owner, based on the long-standing relationship, brought Mulvaney’s team back in to handle the sublease. After several months of work in a challenging leasing market, they negotiated a structure benefiting all sides: a direct lease with a strong credit tenant for half the building, paired with a lease termination that released the existing tenant from further obligation on the space they no longer needed. The owner gained a new, creditworthy direct tenant and the sublessor exited future liability cleanly.
Because of the trust built over years of working together, the team was also brought in to negotiate a 10-year renewal for the remaining tenant. Notably, the landlord, who typically does not pay commissions on renewals, chose to compensate the team for the full new term, a direct reflection of the relationship rather than a standard fee structure.
The takeaway? Prioritizing the client’s best interest over short-term gain compounds over time. What started as a single sale years ago turned into repeat assignments, a win-win sublease/termination structure, and an unexpected renewal fee, all rooted in relationship equity.
Mentoring the Next Generation
Mulvaney’s lifelong involvement with philanthropy translated well to mentoring others—in both business and life. In addition to his extensive work with Father Joe’s Villages, he became actively involved a dozen years ago with the Boys to Men Mentoring Network, a San Diego-based grassroots organization that provides a community of men willing to listen, encourage, and empower at-risk teenage boys, many of whom do not have fathers, who need guidance. He also works diligently on fundraising for Boys to Men, participating in the “100 Wave Challenge” since 2015 at Mission Beach, where sponsored participants attempt to surf 100 waves in one day.
The skills needed to effectively mentor troubled youth translate well to brokerage. “I think it is important when we are bringing in junior people that we teach them good ethics and morals and to always do the right thing, be honest and forthright, and then let them know that you have got to work really hard in this business,” says Mulvaney. “It’s not an easy business. You have to learn how to take no for an answer, turn it into a maybe, and then maybe turn the maybe into a yes at some point.”
Mulvaney has also benefited from mentoring and is coached by Rod Santomassimo of The Massimo Group, which emphasizes not only becoming a top producer but also building a quality of life that lets you enjoy that success.
“Your success is really related to your client’s success and other people’s success. It’s not about me; it’s about my client,” says Mulvaney. “So, I’m on the board at Voit, I’m continuing to work on my real estate, I’m working with some of the young people I’m building a team with, and I’m trying to stay in shape and stay healthy to keep things going.”
Additional broker profiles are scheduled over the next few months. Check back to see who we highlight next.