Sarah Berman

For the Big Apple’s biggest real estate players, who’ve long formed her base, Sarah Berman’s 15-year-old shop became much more than a PR adviser this year. Clients like RXR, Oxford Properties, Fisher Brothers, Boston Properties and Howard Hughes Corporation turned to Berman—who studied Urban Planning at Columbia—for guidance on what she calls “reopening playbooks,” whether built around safety, tech or workplace wellbeing. Berman also worked behind the scenes to get big landlords and major commercial tenants to play nice and work together on plans for a post-pandemic future, whatever that looks like. In the meantime, Berman has expanded her portfolio with mega-landlord Thor Equities, working on its new life sciences and logistics investment arms. Berman’s proptech clients are growing, too, with wins like Dealpath and Willow.