Senior vice president at Colliers International, Minneapolis-St. Paul

Mark Kolsrud, a 25-year veteran commercial real estate broker, has joined the local office of Colliers International, a division of Minnetonka-based Welsh Cos., where he'll continue focusing on investment sales of office and industrial properties.

Kolsrud, 50, was previously senior managing director and principal of the Minneapolis office of Cassidy Turley, where he worked for 22 years. He has logged more than $1 billion in investment sales, including the One Southwest Crossing office building in Eden Prairie and a local, 27-building industrial portfolio. He recently completed several suburban office building sales for lenders and special servicers and is marketing the 2.1-million-square-foot BAE building in Fridley; he says he's close to a sale. While Colliers and Cassidy Turley are competitors, Kolsrud says he's very familiar with how Colliers operates. The Minneapolis office of Cassidy Turley was previously the local affiliate of the Colliers network. Cassidy Turley broke off its relationship with Colliers in 2010, and Welsh joined Colliers in 2011.

Q: You started your career in property management and leasing; why transition into investment sales?

A: The part that attracted me was the significance of the transaction. In my hobbies, I hunt big game and muskie fish, so I like the larger pursuit. … Also, I like the solution that I give to my clients. I can offer them advice on everything from leasing to management to operations to asset management -- and then at the end, the sale — and it's all wrapped up in the service of investment sales."

Q: What are your strengths?

A: One of the things I'm probably best at is selling the story of an investment sale. … You have to identify where the opportunity is and then demonstrate that opportunity to your investors. All too often, investments sales have gotten to the point where they just take the listing, put it on the Internet and pick a buyer. The problem is that only works on one type of product — the type that's almost like a commodity. … Most of the sales that I work on seem to take a little more effort and expertise, and those are the ones I enjoy the most. Not cookie-cutter deals.

Q: Why join Colliers now?

A: They have 75 brokers, and that really gives me a greater opportunity to expand my territory, increase my team size and the volume of services for clients. Also, I turned 50 in December and I said, "OK, I have 15 more years. How am I going to invest my time?"

Liz Wolf is a freelance writer in Eagan. She can be reached at wolfliz99@aol.com.