2024 marks the 15th year of The Wilbert Group, which has provided me an opportunity for reflection and gratitude.

I’m hosting a party at my home for the team and their significant others to say thank you. I’d also like to give a shout-out to the many other people who have worked at Wilbert through the years and contributed to our success. While it’s sad when people leave, it’s a natural part of the life of a company and I am grateful for all the smart, fun, kind and hard-working people who have spent at least some of their professional journeys with us. 

Speaking of anniversaries, 2024 is the 10th anniversary of the opening of Avalon, a mixed-use client that helped put our name on the national map. When developer Mark Toro first hired us, he was making a name for himself as “the turnaround artist” at Atlantic Station and we were figuring out how to be a PR firm. We had not worked together long when he shared his not-entirely-popular vision for a mixed-use project in Alpharetta. For anyone in Atlanta, or in commercial real estate across the country for that matter, the rest is history. Avalon has been an amazing success. Our work helped drive Avalon’s success and also reflected it. After Avalon opened, we got more calls from mixed-use developers locally and nationally, and we have become true experts in using PR to help developers meet their goals at every stage of a project. We’ve had a blast working on Halcyon, The Works, Colony Square, Echo Street West, High Street, OAK (Oklahoma City), Veridian (Chicago), and Fenton (Cary, NC), among others.

Not that we only represent developers, of course. Our focus on commercial real estate is broad, and our clients are owners, brokers, architects and third-party services providers. They are focused on office, multifamily, industrial, retail and hospitality.

While we’re particularly well-known in real estate, we’ve had the pleasure of representing many kinds of clients, including those in professional services. Law firms have ranged from Fisher Phillips to current clients Isaac Wiles and Townsend & Lockett. Lately, we’ve added more nonprofit clients, meaningful for lots of reasons. We also have worked with several big Atlanta corporations, including Equifax and Aaron’s. And in case you haven’t run into my dad lately, because he tells everyone, we now represent Walmart in Georgia.

Looking back on 15 years, there have been many exciting milestones, in terms of our revenue growth and expansion of services. It’s hard to believe it has been seven years since we created our own in-house video unit, for instance. But mostly it is the people who work here, and the clients, that matter the most. I believe we have done - and continue to do -  a good job for both groups. One thing I have learned is you never know what’s coming, and I look forward to seeing what the next 15 years hold for The Wilbert Group. We are just getting started.