Rachel Casanova is a Senior Managing Director of Workplace Innovation based in the firm’s Midtown Manhattan office. Having joined Cushman & Wakefield in 2018, Rachel is equipped with more than 25 years of diverse industry experience advising companies on how to transform their real estate assets to reinforce long-term business strategies and create a workplace experience unique to the company’s corporate culture. Rachel is passionate about workplace innovation and helps companies build and implement strategic plans to establish flexible and dynamic workplace environments, optimize space utilization and ensure buildings and portfolios are “future proof.” In a time of uncertainty about the future of office space, Rachel provides solutions for a range of workplace programs, from having employees in the office full-time to managing remote and distributed workforces.

As a member of Cushman & Wakefield’s Recovery Readiness Task Force, Rachel is co-leading the application of the firm’s Six Feet Office design concept in the United States, helping companies grasp complex and critical workplace innovation strategies for a post-COVID-19 world. As a part of this effort, Rachel is also working with investors to help landlords better understand tenant and employee priorities.

Forward-thinking and creative, Rachel is passionate about the convergence of organizational behavior, the human experience and real estate. She is frequently called upon as a subject matter expert and has contributed regularly to audiences at conferences and education seminars. Rachel has recently spoken at Worktech. RealComm, CoreNet, CRE Tech, Cornell University, NYU, IIDA and Neocon, among others.

Prior to Cushman & Wakefield, Rachel founded Balansett, a workplace consulting practice, with clients spanning legal firms, professional services, technology, non-profits and architectural firms. During the course of her career, Rachel has addressed workplace-related advances from multiple vantage points—working within an end-user environment at Nortel Networks, serving as a design consultant at Herman Miller and leading Workplace Strategy at Mancini Duffy, Perkins + Will and, most recently, R/ GA.