Lew Cramer

With decades of experience within the international business and real estate sectors, Lew Cramer is one of the more well-connected economic development professionals in the Intermountain West helping Colliers clients grow, expand and succeed. Since 2013, he has helped lead the largest full-service commercial real estate company in the Intermountain West as CEO of Colliers | Utah. For the past five years, he has also served as a Utah State Transportation Commissioner, with responsibilities to assist and review the Utah Department of Transportation activities and its almost $3 billion annual budget to plan, build and operate Utah’s growing multi-modal transportation systems.

Earlier and as founding president and CEO, Lew led World Trade Center Utah from 2006 through 2013 at the request of Utah Governors Jon Huntsman and Gary Herbert. With his talented colleagues and strategic partners, he enhanced Utah’s international expansion by assisting Utah firms in connecting with global business opportunities, a method he employs today at Colliers. The success of Lew’s vision and efforts is shown in Utah’s position as the only state in the nation with positive export growth every year for the past decade, including tripling Utah’s global exports during that time. He also currently serves as one of three Americans on the international board of the World Trade Centers Association, comprising 300+ World Trade Centers in about 100 countries around the world.

During the George H.W. Bush administration, Lew served as Director-General of the U.S. Commercial Service, leading the activities of 1,400 commercial officers at over 100 embassies worldwide and 65 offices throughout the United States with the main focus of increasing U.S. exports and expanding international trade opportunities for American companies overseas. In the Reagan Administration, Lew served as a White House Fellow, as well as a sub-cabinet officer in the U.S. Department of Commerce, including as U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of Commerce and then as U.S. Assistant Secretary of Commerce for International Trade, involved in numerous international trade negotiations worldwide.

During his many years in Washington, D.C., Lew was also international Vice President of US WEST (a Regional Bell Operating Company) as part of the senior-level team that developed major telecommunications projects in over 20 countries that were valued at over $15 billion with 5 million customers when merged with AT&T in 2000. Lew has also practiced real estate law in Los Angeles and in the San Francisco Bay area. For many years, he taught real estate law at the University of Southern California and international business at Georgetown University.

Brigham Young University, J. Reuben Clark School of Law - Honors Graduate

American Management Association Board of Trustees
World Trade Centers Association Board of Directors
Salt Lake Chamber of Commerce Board of Governors
World Trade Center Utah Vice Chairman
Financial Services Corporation Chairman of the Board
Economic Development Corporation of Utah Board of Directors
Utah Technology Council Board of Directors
Envision Utah Board of Directors