Flake & Kelley partner Jessica Flake Dearnley relocating from NWA to Little Rock
by October 31, 2019 2:50 pm 1,988 views
Flake & Kelley Commercial announced Thursday (Oct. 31) that Jessica Flake Dearnley will relocate to the real estate firm’s Little Rock headquarters. Dearnley previously managed the firm’s Northwest Arkansas office in Springdale as principal broker, partner and executive vice president. She will join the Little Rock office to work alongside her father and company founder, John Flake, beginning Nov. 4.
“It is an honor to have the opportunity to work with my daughter,” Flake said in a statement. “For the last three decades, we have prided ourselves on our high level of service, always keeping our clients moving forward. We are excited to see the value that Jessica will add to the Little Rock location. We are confident that her talent and deep understanding of the commercial real estate market will strengthen the valued partnerships we hold with national and in-state businesses.”
A spokeswoman for Flake & Kelley said Dearnley’s role in the Northwest Arkansas office will be filled by two existing employees in that office. Jay Pearcy will be the principal broker and Mary Beth Chambers will ultimately be the executive broker. Pearcy is an executive broker in the company’s NWA property management division. Chambers is the office’s brokerage coordinator.
Dearnley’s husband, Matthew Dearnley, is the managing partner of the Northwest Arkansas office, essentially the No. 2 executive in the building. Dearnley will continue to run the Northwest Arkansas office along with the other partners, adding that he and his wife are not getting a divorce.
“Jessica holds an MBA and is uniquely qualified with her certifications as a CFA, CPA, MAC, CCIM to help assist her father with some amazingly important and sizable projects being worked out of our central Arkansas office,” Dearnley said in a statement. “However, Jessica will still lend her expertise to companywide projects when necessary and will remain a partner in the Northwest Arkansas office.”
Jessica Dearnley, 45, has worked in Northwest Arkansas for 16 years. She joined Flake & Kelley in 2012 and was previously a consultant for Frost PLLC and Chambers Bank. Before that, she was chief operating officer for Midwest Mall Properties. She also holds the designations of Certified Commercial Investment Member (CCIM), chartered financial analyst (CFA) and certified public accountant (CPA).
Additionally, she holds broker licenses in Arkansas, Missouri and Oklahoma, with an application pending in Texas.
She earned an undergraduate degree from Carnegie Mellon University and master’s degrees from both the University of Miami with a Master of Business in Finance and Investments and a Master of Accountancy from the University of Arkansas.
“I’m very excited,” Dearnley said. “I look at all my dad’s done in his career and having the opportunity to work with him is kind of the next step in my career.”