Thomas Zabel
Thomas Zabel (* 19. Januar 1971 in Aachen) is a German entrepreneur and an international specialist in real estate development. Thomas is known as a pioneer in the internationalisation of the German residential property market.
He is the founder and CEO of Zabel Property. The company was acquired by JLL (company) in December 2016 in order to expand JLL's market activities in residential developments in Germany. At JLL, Thomas heads the department 'Residential Development Germany'. He is also co-founder of MainConcept, a global supplier of audio and video codec solutions which was acquired by DivX, Inc. in 2007.
Biography
In 1992 he founded the company ‘Zabel Immobilien’ in Aachen, Germany. After the company had advanced to the level of a regional market leader, the Berlin branch opened in 2003 focusing on the marketing of premium residential property in the largest cities of Germany. The company name was turned into 'Zabel Property' as part of the strategy to attract international investors to the German market. Thomas also became an advisor to project developers to realize successful real estate projects. In 2012 the company joined the ‘Leading Real Estate Companies of the World’ and earned numerous European industry awards in the following years.
In 2015 Thomas was the first German individual to successfully become a “Certified International Property Specialist”, awarded by the National Association of Realtors.
In 2016 Thomas led Zabel Property AG into a successful acquisition by Jones Lang LaSalle Incorporated (JLL). He became the EMEA Regional Director and Head of Residential Development Germany at JLL.
In 2017 Thomas' team was the leading project development consultancy of 'Grand Tower', Germany's highest residential tower currently under construction.
Together with his business partner Markus Moenig he founded MainConcept company in 1993 and acted as Chief Commercial Officer. Under Thomas’ leadership the company became a dominant provider of video/audio codecs. MainConcept earned recognition by developing award-winning video codecs which were licensed and integrated in products of many companies including Adobe Systems, Inc.. MainConcept was acquired by DivX, Inc. in November 2007 for US$22 Million.