Giselle Bonilla

Biography: Giselle Bonilla has 15 years of experience managing CRE and workplace portfolios for her employers. Currently, Giselle is the Director of Global Real Estate & Construction for Zendesk, a software company headquartered in San Francisco, CA. Her team manages real estate strategy, global leasing, transaction management and design & construction project management. She leads a team of project stakeholders from Workplace, IT, Security, Procurement and Finance to plan multiphase and multi-year capital projects, relocations and expansions. Previously, Giselle has held similar roles in CRE, Workplace Operations and Construction Management for various tech and clean tech companies such as NerdWallet, Slack, SunEdison, FirstWind and StubHub. Back in 2002, she started her career as an office assistant for NorthMarq Capital in San Francisco where this gave her a broad level of exposure to commercial real estate finance, leasing and deal production. After participating in the design & construction fit-out of NorthMarq’s office relocation in 2004, Giselle gained deep insight into facilities management, office design and construction. Experiencing an epiphany, Giselle chose to pivot and develop a career in CRE, Workplace and Construction, a field that Giselle refers to as, “deeply gratifying work”. Giselle also has a background in Hospitality Management, is a classically trained Chef and graduated from the California Culinary Academy (Le Cordon Bleu) in San Francisco.