About
Professional Summary
Holly Duran is one of the country’s most influential women in tenant representation. Acquired by Colliers International, owner and principal of Holly Duran Real Estate Partners, as an experienced strategic real estate advisor, she provides knowledge-based guidance to corporate and institutional users to optimize their real estate portfolios, create efficiencies and enhance the workplace. Holly has spearheaded lease negotiations for more than 15 million square feet of space, consistently achieving highly aggressive, flexible, cost-saving transactions. Additionally, Holly and her team have performed numerous sale/leaseback transactions on behalf of their clients including the historic Chicago Board of Trade Building, the Kansas City Board of Trade Building and the NYMEX Building at 300 Vesey Street in New York. Holly’s tenacious negotiating skills have been acknowledged by satisfied clients and creative colleagues around the world, and she has received numerous prestigious recognitions, including the Chicago Food Depository’s “Tenant Representative of the Year” award.
Accomplishments
Holly is highly recognized for her expertise in representing financial services firms with in-depth knowledge of the specialized infrastructure and regulatory requirements of the industry. Serving as consultant to the CME Group since 1980, she has negotiated over two million square feet of transactions and continues to coordinate all real estate transactions for CME Group.
Her financial services clients have also included Cboe Global Markets, The OCC, ED&F Man Capital, Novation Companies, Nomura Securities International, Susquehanna Investment Group, Spear Leads, Tokyo Mitsubishi, Broker’s Risk and Wind Point Partners, along with prominent law firms, technology companies and family offices such as McDermott Will & Emery, Goldberg Kohn, marchFIRST and Levy Family Partners.
Her strategic lease portfolio management skills aim to maximize the clients’ flexibility in each real estate decision in order to reduce real estate costs while maintaining optionality. Holly and her team have managed the lease portfolios of companies such as Farmers Business Network, The American Bottling Company and Ticketmaster.
Education
Northern Illinois University
Illinois Licensed Managing Broker
Memberships & Involvements
Holly is a dedicated advocate for Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago, an active board member of the Children’s Memorial Foundation and a longtime sustaining member of the Children’s Service Board.
Industry affiliations include membership of CoreNet Global, CREW Chicago and the Chicago Office Leasing Brokers Association, and past participant in the Chicago Development Council and the Wacker Drive Property Owners Association.
A long-term champion for women, Holly is a founding member of the Chicago Commercial Real Estate Organization, predecessor to CREW Chicago, an organization dedicated to advancing the power of women in commercial real estate, and is an initial investor in Bonfire Chicago, a career development business aimed at helping women excel in the workplace by equipping them with the skills to achieve success on their own terms.
Holly is a lifelong resident of Chicago, contributing time and expertise to civic organizations and initiatives in support of the commercial real estate community.
Testimonials
"Holly Duran and her Team is a strategically-oriented business partner that achieves tremendous value for its global clientele. During my tenure as CEO of CME Group, Holly Duran helped guide our long-term global real estate strategy as we completed more than $20 billion in mergers and acquisitions and expanded our global footprint including acquisitions and divestitures in our real estate portfolio. As Executive Chairman of The OCC, Holly provided essential strategic advisory services, brokerage and transaction management services in helping streamline the firm’s US real estate portfolio. If you're looking for a strategic partner who understands your business versus a firm to handle a specific transaction Holly Duran, Principal, and Colliers International is the firm you should choose." – Craig Donohue, Executive Chairman – The OCC, former CEO – CME Group
"I've known and worked with Holly Duran for many years; she was our go-to real estate expert, partnering with us to lease our headquarters space as well as office space around the globe, to sell and lease-back trophy properties across the U.S. in the financial services space and to establish an overall long-term real estate strategy. Holly works with her clients in a highly collaborative way and is focused on solutions, whether it was our real estate leasing, buying or selling needs. I highly recommend Holly Duran, Principal of Colliers International.” - James E. Parisi, former Chief Financial Officer - CME Group and current Director - Cboe Global Markets, Inc.
“Holly Duran and her team worked tirelessly to find our new office space and worked alongside us during every phase of the build out and reconfiguration. More recently, they negotiated a rightsizing and extension of our lease with extremely favorable concessions. Holly and Lois helped us create a beautiful office on time and on budget with minimal frustration.” - Cheryl L. Sandner, Senior Managing Director - Brokers Risk, a division of One80 Intermediaries.
"Having worked in close association with Holly for over 30 years, and with Holly and her colleagues at Holly Duran Real Estate Partners since its inception and now at Colliers International. She has represented our law firm in connection with space selection and lease negotiations and I have worked with her representing clients we have in common on numerous occasions. In my opinion Holly and her colleagues are competent, aggressive, thorough and effective. That’s why they are the brokers and real estate leasing consultants of choice for our firm." - James B. Rosenbloom Principal - Goldberg Kohn Ltd.
Holly and her team did an incredible job handling all of our real estate needs nationwide for many years; both in periods of growth and contraction. They always put our needs first and ensured we were well protected not just during the negotiation phase but throughout the entire term of our leases. We look forward to working with Holly Duran, now Principal of Colliers International, for many years to come.”– Lance Anderson General Partner and Co-Founder, Rondo Ventures, CEO Concentus Capital, former Chairman Canpango LLC, CEO Corvisa LLC and CEO Novation Companies
Services
Skills
Service Lines
Property Type
Specializations
My Team
My Team
Jeff Mulder is an Executive Vice President for Colliers Chicago downtown office. He has over 17 years of experience and serves as a strategic consultant and real estate specialist in all facets of real estate providing end-to-end solutions for each project he undertakes.
Prior to joining Colliers, Jeff was a partner with Holly Duran Real Estate Partners LLC, a boutique real estate services provider in downtown Chicago. Jeff utilized his real estate investment knowledge serving as the firm’s financial specialist while providing tenant representative services account management in office, industrial and data center transactions. Before joining Holly Duran Real Estate Partners, Jeff worked for Mark Goodman & Associates as a lead site acquisition agent for the firm, in addition to representing tenants in search of office space. He began his career with Cushman & Wakefield where he solicited new business and worked with existing clientele on a national basis.
Jeff Newcom is a Senior Vice President for Colliers Chicago office division. Jeff has extensive experience in negotiation, tenant representation, financial analysis, and investments. He has negotiated more than 2,000,000 square feet of local, national, and global real estate transactions over his 12-year career.
His focus and specialty includes tenants that are technology driven and forward-thinking companies that are looking to change the world. His recent clients include LanzaTech, Farmers Business Network, Groupon, Chicago Mercantile Exchange and Cboe.
Lois is a Senior Vice President at Colliers International specializing in tenant representation and lease portfolio management on an international basis. Lois provides oversite of the real estate holdings of numerous financial market leaders in the Chicagoland market. Lois’ hospitality experience provides a skillset that enables her to turn challenges into a better user experience for her clients. She is known for her in-depth, strategic client services and proven track record in completing projects on time and on budget.