From Terranomics he took a corporate role as Director of Real Estate for Mervyn’s department stores from 2005 to 2008. Mervyn's was a mid-tier department store chain based in Hayward, CA with 189 stores in 10 states.

In 2007, while remaining in his role at Mervyn’s, Solomon joined Colliers International where he did retail leasing for 14 years and earned an Executive Vice President title after surpassing $10M in gross commissions earned.

In 2021, Solomon joined Beta Agency out of Southern California to lead its Northern California expansion in April of 2023 formed Ets-Hokin Commercial Real Estate, Inc.

Since 2010, Solomon has been retained by Hobby Lobby as their exclusive tenant rep in California and, to date, they have opened more than 90 stores averaging 55,000 square feet each. 

Past national accounts include children’s clothing retailer Sprockets, which retained him to execute a national roll-out for outlet centers . 

He was also retained by Oakley, a subsidiary of Italian corporate giant Luxottica that designs, develops, and manufactures sports performance equipment for both national and global retail expansions. 

As National Real Estate Director for Dixon Car Phone, the $9 billion British multinational electrical and telecommunications retailer, Solomon was responsible for rolling out Sprint stores across the US. 

Solomon is an active ICSC member professionally and, from 2004 to 2012, served on ICSC’s Northern California Program Committee. He served for eight years on Colliers’ Retail National Leadership Committee. 

For a 3-year term, he was its peer-elected National Chair and led a directive to strengthen the company’s retail brokerage network and drive business development. He received the Colliers Chairman’s Award an unprecedented two times, in 2011 and 2015 amongst 600 agents across the country.

He also served as a board member for the Oakland Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and was honored as Volunteer of the Year for initiating and chairing the Oakland Land Use Committee, a group of commercial development professionals advising Oakland electeds on policy. 

He currently serves as a board and executive committee member for the Oakland Builders Alliance (OBA), an advocacy organization of Oakland builders and developers supporting the interests of professionals in the building and development industry.

Solomon has been married for 21 years, and he and his wife Setsuko live in Clayton.  They have two beautiful, intelligent daughters Iris and Rose, who were adopted as infants from Kazakhstan in 2004 and currently attend the University of Hawaii. 

Solomon’s hobbies include cooking, ukulele, poker, and an occasional fine scotch.

Education

• BS in Hospitality - University of Nevada, Las Vegas 

Professional Affiliations

• ICSC - Member, 28 years

• Oakland Builders Alliance – Board Member 

V-card