Current responsibilities
Julie Steffen is the Managing Director and Head of JLL’s International Desk (iDesk), and leads our our Mid-Western Hub for iDesk based out of Chicago.
She is responsible for expanding the growth of our international business across the Americas, Europe, Middle East, Africa and the Asia Pacific regions, as well as facilitating any international transactions and projects for our clients.
With over 10 years of experience in commercial real estate, her specialities include - International real estate advisory, commercial, portfolio and transaction management, with a special focus on industrial properties.
Experience
As a member of Regional transactional management team in Shanghai, China since 2007, Julie was responsible for leading major MNC accounts such as Nortel, Whirlpool, Unisys, Computer Associates, and Motorola. In this role, she managed account transactions for over 10 million s.f. of portfolio properties across the Asia Pacific region. She worked closely with the regional transaction management teams in both Europe and the United States to ensure process consistency. During this time, she authored and distributed many international best practices, which have been shared throughout JLL as well as with many of her clients.
While joining the iDesk in 2010 in Palo Alto, she became responsible for clients in the Western United States and Texas. In 2012, Julie moved to Chicago to start and lead the Mid-West Hub for the International Desk. In 2018 Julie took over the leadership of the iDesk team.
Recent Clients
- Steelcase
- Spencer Stuart
- Gardner Denver
- Greif
- HB Fuller
Key transactions
- Whirlpool, sale and lease back of a 380,000-square-foot manufacturing site, Shanghai, China
- Nortel, restructuring and subleasing of a 513,00-square-foot campus, Beijing, China
- Levis, leasing and sale of 150,000 square feet, Frankfurt, Germany
- Nortel, acquisition of 73,000 square feet, Bangalore, India
- Logitech, renewal of 10,000 square feet, Tokyo, Japan
Awards
- JLL Best Account Management, 2008
- JLL Club, 2011
Education and affiliations
Julie holds a B.A. (Hons) degree in European Business Administration from Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge, UK with majors in both finance and accounting. Julie has also a Graduate of the Emerging Leaders Class of 2017 ofthe Chicago Council on Global Affairs.
