A longtime real estate executive has made his move to a global platform at Newmark at a time when economic uncertainty — coupled with the unpredictability of office space demand — has caused some of his clients to hold off on making their real estate decisions.

Jeff Pappas recently joined the Dallas office of Newmark as a senior managing director with 25 years of office tenant representation experience that spans the world. His experience includes advising on headquarter relocations, industrial users and call centers for national and international clients.

He has also represented clients in every region in the United States and Canada, as well as Latin America, Europe, Asia and Africa.

Pappas' decades of experience, broad market expertise and strong track record of exceptional client service complements what is "an already powerful office tenant representation group in Texas and beyond," said Ran Holman, executive vice president and Texas market leader for Newmark.

Pappas told CoStar News he'd been thinking about joining Newmark for some time, having collaborated with many of the firm's executives throughout his career.

In particular, he said, his former colleague and partner Susan Arledge, who joined Newmark on the heels of former NFL Hall of Famer Emmitt Smith, had "fantastic things to say about the company" and its future.

In thinking more about his move to Newmark, it occurred to him that "life is about building relationships, and good things always start with conversation," he said.

Pappas intends to continue serving his global client base in his new role at Newmark. The firm gives him a "larger, well-resourced platform with which to work," with collaboration across the firm's more than 100 service lines. He joins the brokerage firm's tenant representation practice in Dallas.

In the past four years, Pappas has completed more than 10 million square feet of lease deals, helping save more than $25 million for his clients.

Prior to joining Newmark, he was a managing director at Dallas-based Mohr Partners and an executive vice president at ESRP Real Estate, which sold to Cresa earlier this year. Newmark has also been expanding in Texas through the acquisition of rivals.

Even though office lease deals are still occurring, they are smaller and slightly slower to close, Pappas said.

"With many companies still in the early days of hybrid work experiments, it's not just economic uncertainty but uncertainty about in-office occupancy trends over time," he added. "These uncertainties might make companies hold off on expanding, downsizing or right-sizing office footprints."