Culture Driven

Canadian-based commercial real estate brokerage firm Avison Young didn't open its first U.S. office until 2009, some three decades into its corporate life.

In the years since, though, it has more than made up the time. Toronto-based Avison Young now contends it's among the world's fastest-growing real estate firms, with offices in Canada, the U.S., Germany, the United Kingdom — even Romania.

Today, its 81 offices and 2,600 real estate professionals manage more than 100 million square feet of space worldwide, and the company projects that by 2020 it will post $1 billion in annual revenue -- up from $200 million four years ago.