According to Sean Cahill, Avison Young principal and managing director of the firm's Fairfield/Westchester office, Alison Luisi has joined the firm, continuing the global commercial real estate services firm's regional expansion. Effective immediately, Luisi joins the capital markets team as an associate. In her new position, Luisi will work with Cahill and Senior vice-president William Anson, joining a team that has established itself as a leader in real estate services. In this role, Luisi will leverage her extensive services background and work with Avison Young's clients on an array of investment sales and brokerage activities across a range of property types. Before joining Avison Young, Luisi worked in investment banking at VTB Capital, where she managed a portfolio of clients that actively traded in emerging market securities. Prior to that, she worked at the New York City and London offices of Merrill Lynch, where she serviced industry-leading mutual, pension and hedge funds, and actively managed a $50-million trading book. A skillful negotiator with experience in arranging sophisticated deals, Luisi is a licensed real estate salesperson in the state of Connecticut. She will utilize her experience working with a wide range of financial instruments in a client-oriented environment. "I was particularly attracted to Avison Young because of the collaborative approach that makes up the company's backbone," said Luisi. "There is a strong similarity between investment banking and the work I will be doing, as success in each industry is largely a consequence of building key relationships. I'm confident that the similar activities involved in these two industries will make this transition a seamless one." Luisi is an active member of several organizations including 100 Women in Hedge Funds and the Westport Young Woman's League. A graduate of Bucknell University, she received her bachelor of arts degree in Economics and International Relations. Avison Young is one of the world's fastest-growing commercial real estate services firms. Headquartered in Toronto, Canada, Avison Young is a collaborative, global firm owned and operated by its principals. Founded in 1978, the company comprises 1,800 real estate professionals in 66 offices, providing value-added, client-centric investment sales, leasing, advisory, management, financing and mortgage placement services to owners and occupiers of office, retail, industrial and multi-family properties.