Citizen AI: How NewMark Merrill Turned Employees Into AI Builders

CALABASAS, Calif. – August 31, 2026 – In an era where businesses are scrambling to buy into the artificial intelligence revolution, one commercial real estate giant took a sharp turn from the well-trodden path. Instead of purchasing a single, monolithic AI platform, NewMark Merrill Companies invested in its own people, turning 13 employees from across the corporate spectrum into capable AI builders. The result: 53 bespoke AI solutions, over 3,700 hours of recovered annual capacity, and a potential new blueprint for enterprise AI adoption.

The initiative, dubbed the AI Pioneer Program, is a case study in strategic defiance. While competitors and peers grapple with integrating off-the-shelf software, the Calabasas-based firm chose to cultivate talent from within. They didn't tap their IT department or hire a squadron of data scientists. Instead, they selected individuals from accounting, property management, leasing, and HR—the very people feeling the daily friction of inefficient workflows—and taught them how to solve their own problems.

A Different Blueprint for AI Adoption

The approach was methodical. Over a twelve-week, six-session program designed and delivered in partnership with the training firm Adaptig, the cohort of 13 "Pioneers" learned to identify bottlenecks and construct AI-powered tools to eliminate them. The key, according to company leadership, was not just teaching the technology, but creating the right environment for innovation to flourish.

"We did not hand anyone a tool and tell them to use it," said Sandy Sigal, President and Chief Executive Officer of NewMark Merrill Companies. "We gave them the skills and asked them to solve the problems they know better than anyone else does. Thirteen employees came back with fifty-three answers. That is the kind of change that lasts, because they own it."

This philosophy of empowerment is a stark contrast to the typical top-down implementation of new technology. Mateo Romano, Co-Founder of Adaptig, noted the deliberate nature of the program's design. "Sandy deliberately filled that room with people who had no AI background and told them plainly that this would not come from the top," Romano explained. "That gave the thirteen Pioneers the confidence to bring their real problems: the reconciliation that eats a full day, the report nobody wants to write, the workaround a system has forced on them for years."

The cross-functional nature of the group proved to be a powerful catalyst. When accounting, leasing, IT, and marketing are at the same table, departmental silos begin to dissolve. "They solved those problems for each other instead of one department at a time," Romano added. This collaborative problem-solving transformed participants from mere software users into creators.

From Hours to Minutes: The Tangible Impact on Operations

The program's success wasn't measured in abstract concepts but in hard data. The 53 completed solutions have clawed back 3,783 hours of work annually—the equivalent of freeing up nearly two full-time employees to focus on higher-value activities. Furthermore, the participants' self-assessed quality of their own output jumped by 34 percent, indicating that the AI tools are not just making work faster, but better.

The applications span the full breadth of the $3 billion real estate portfolio. In the high-stakes world of acquisitions, a grueling eight-hour underwriting process involving manual document review has been compressed to under an hour. In accounting, CAM reconciliations that once consumed an entire workday are now generated in minutes. For property managers overseeing a portfolio of over 110 shopping centers, daily security reports are now automatically summarized, flagging only the exceptions that require human attention. Even the IT department benefited, replacing a clunky, manual credit card allocation process with an internally built web application.

The experience was transformative for the employees involved. "The AI Pioneer program... helped me identify roadblocks in our acquisition and development processes and build solutions we can roll out across the team," said Taylor Kuchman, an Acquisitions & Development Associate. Critically, she added, it "opened my eyes to challenges other departments were facing and the solutions they were putting in place. Those solutions, and the companywide collaboration they created, made this program valuable."

The People-First Philosophy in a Tech-Driven World

This people-centric strategy is not a recent development for the firm, but rather an extension of its long-standing culture. CEO Sandy Sigal, who began his own career as a software developer at age 12 before entering real estate, has consistently championed technology as an enabler, not a replacement, for human ingenuity. This background provides crucial context for the AI Pioneer Program; it's an authentic reflection of a leader who understands both code and culture.

The initiative's resounding success, evidenced by a +70 Net Promoter Score from participants, underscores the power of trusting your team. By framing AI as a tool for empowerment rather than a threat of obsolescence, the company has fostered a culture of proactive innovation. "What impressed me most was not the technology — it was our people," Sigal reiterated, emphasizing the human element at the core of this technological leap.

A New Benchmark for Commercial Real Estate

NewMark Merrill's approach stands out in a commercial real estate (CRE) industry that is both intrigued and intimidated by AI. While a 2025 JLL survey found that 88% of real estate investors are piloting AI, a staggering 60% admit they lack a clear strategy for its implementation. Many firms remain in a state of cautious experimentation, using AI for support tasks but hesitating to trust it for core decision-making.

The industry is rife with companies adopting third-party tools or hybrid models, but few have gone as far as to build a scalable, internal engine for AI development powered by non-technical staff. This "citizen developer" model directly addresses the "last mile" problem of AI implementation, ensuring that the solutions are perfectly tailored to the unique friction points of the business, as identified by the employees who experience them firsthand.

By documenting a clear ROI—in hours saved, quality improved, and employee satisfaction—the retail shopping center owner has created more than just internal efficiencies. It has established a viable, replicable model for how a legacy industry can strategically integrate cutting-edge technology from the ground up. As other firms navigate the hype cycle, NewMark Merrill is already scaling its next phase of innovation, leveraging its technology arm, BrightStreet Ventures, and a newly minted cohort of AI champions to redefine what's possible in the management and growth of physical retail spaces.