Blake Okland, who led Cushman & Wakefield’s multifamily capital markets platform from December 2023 until early 2026, has joined Berkadia as its Chief Revenue Officer, the Commercial Observer exclusively reports. Okland’s tenure at Berkadia commenced in the spring of this year. His role focuses on fostering growth within the brokerage firm’s Investment Sales and Mortgage Banking platforms and he reports to Hilary Provinse, Executive Vice President for Capital Markets.
Okland stated that the opportunity to work with Provinse and to operate in the multifamily sector with versatile capital markets offerings significantly influenced his decision to join the 17-year-old company. He emphasised that one of the company's strengths is its long-term planning, which is highly important in this business. He noted they possess both a long-term perspective and the ability to act spontaneously and flexibly, as the market and the world are extremely dynamic. He views these as clear advantages for the platform.
Experience and Department Integration
Okland, who is based in Charlotte, N.C., was previously appointed President of C&W Multifamily Capital Markets at the end of 2023, while simultaneously serving as Chief Revenue Officer at Greystone. This occurred as part of a strategic equity, debt, and structured finance partnership between the two firms. Prior to this, he spent nearly two decades at Apartment Realty Advisors from 2004 to 2022, which was acquired by Newmark in 2014.
Hilary Provinse commented that Okland’s extensive experience, much of it gained in the investment sales area of the brokerage business, and her own more capital markets-focused background will complement each other well. Her goal is to integrate the two units more closely. She remarked that the business is no longer isolated, as clients seek advisory support for both the sale and marketing of properties and their financing, structuring, or recapitalisation. Berkadia has reached a point where significant investment has been made in personnel and capabilities – both in debt and sales. The opportunity to combine these under Okland’s leadership is therefore perfectly timed.
Growth and International Expansion
Berkadia recorded nearly $35 billion in loan originations in 2025, an increase from $10.5 billion in 2013, according to the brokerage firm. Investment sales business also showed growth, reaching approximately $16 billion in 2025, compared to $4.1 billion in 2013.
- —In addition to fostering origination and investment sales growth in the US, Okland will also focus on expanding Berkadia’s international partnership with Knight Frank, which was established in early 2023.
- —He had previously worked closely with a global brand partnership with Knight Frank at Newmark and sees great opportunities for business expansion, as foreign investors are increasingly targeting multifamily properties.
- —Okland highlighted that the multifamily sector is the largest asset class in the United States, which was not the case before the COVID-19 pandemic. The importance of this core business line for global capital deployment is therefore greater than ever before.
The importance of possessing and ensuring that the infrastructure is vibrant and active is a permanent need, regardless of whether the pipeline is currently particularly robust or not.
