Q & A with Elliman’s new face in Florida

Douglas Elliman Florida CEO Vanessa GroutFrom the South Florida website: After years of sitting in the shadows, Douglas Elliman Florida is taking center stage, trying to steal some
of the limelight from its New York counterpart, Prudential Douglas Elliman, also owned by Howard
Lorber’s the Vector Group.

With a new website launched today, a new Facebook page with multiple listings service capabilities, key
new hires and new offices, the Miami-based brokerage, which specializes in luxury properties throughout
South Florida, is pulling out all the stops under the leadership of Vanessa Grout, who was appointed
president and CEO in 2010 following three years as vice president of acquisitions for New Valley, the
Florida real estate division of Vector.

In the short time since she took the reins, Grout has grown the Florida company’s revenue by more than
400 percent, she told The Real Deal, and has acquired three office locations in Miami including a new
headquarters in the Herzog & de Meuron building at 1111 Lincoln Road.

Notable new hires, she said, include Thania Vernon, Douglas Elliman Florida’s new COO, who
previously served as president at Miami-based Vernon & Vernon PA, and Daniel Lee, who previously
worked for Prodigy Network in Miami. [more]