TERE BLANCA

FOUNDER, CHAIRMAN & CEO, BLANCA COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE, MIAMI

Blanca founded her commercial real estate firm in 2009. The company, which employs 24, provides a range of brokerage and advisory services to landlords and tenants. Now 12 years later, she says, “It is deeply rewarding to know we are helping to shape for good South Florida’s dynamic landscape.”

Before launching her own business, she was senior managing director for Cushman & Wakefield of Florida and senior vice president at Codina Realty Services. Blanca actually began her career in banking, left that profession to get an MBA, then was working in sales for a technology company in San Diego when a friend suggested her background in sales and marketing might make for success in real estate. She made the career change. That was more than 30 years ago.

Blanca, who was born in Havana and raised in Miami, serves on the Miami Dade College board of trustees and is on the boards of BankUnited and the Urban Land Institute. She also serves on the University of Miami’s Herbert Business School’s real estate advisory board and is past chair of City Year Miami.