Richmond, VA – March 10th, 2026

CCP30, Part II: Ken Strickler on Growth and Mentorship

This May, Commonwealth Commercial Partners is celebrating 30 years in business. But according to CCP President Ken Strickler, the company is “still in early innings—just getting started.”

With over two decades at the company, Strickler identifies three pillars of their longevity: a bold entrepreneurial drive, a foundation of solid core values, and the continuous empowerment of the next generation of leaders.

 

Rising Through the Ranks

“You might say my background is a little different in today’s day and age,” says Strickler, reflecting back on the start of his career. In an era where career pivots are the new norm, Strickler stands out for his focused, long-term commitment to CCP.

Strickler joined CCP in 2005, straight out of his undergraduate studies at Hampden-Sydney College. He had spent his college summers working at a residential leasing office in Richmond’s Fan neighborhood, during which time he also earned his real estate license. But as his college years came to a close, Strickler found himself gravitating more and more towards the world of commercial real estate. After a few conversations with company founder Mark Claud about the value of property management, the rest is history—a statement that is relatable for many CCP employees.

“From the beginning, I had a great deal of confidence in Mark and other leaders of CCP,” says Strickler. “Mark has been the best mentor you can imagine. I relied on his experience and was drawn to the company’s culture and strong leadership, which possessed an entrepreneurial bent that continues to this day.”

At the time, CCP consisted of around 12 employees. Strickler quickly rose to the role of senior property manager, consistently expanding his portfolio with a focus on high-caliber assets.

“I was grateful for the chance to put my stamp on things and learn property management first hand,” comments Strickler. “In our business, property management can sometimes be viewed as a commodity—as services you can readily get. Through Mark’s mentorship, I came to learn the importance of being indispensable to your client, providing them a service that they can’t get elsewhere. That’s what gives us the competitive advantage.”

In 2008, during what will be remembered as the most significant financial crisis in recent history, Strickler helped lead the way for the creation of CCP’s new asset management division. As the division gained momentum over the next few years, Strickler transitioned away from property management to oversee asset management full-time. He also contributed to a key expansion opportunity for the company.

“Coming out of 2011-2012, we had built a substantial infrastructure in property management and asset management,” says Strickler. “Meanwhile, the real estate industry was still recovering from the financial crisis. We saw an opportunity to raise capital and acquire assets, using our operating platform as an advantage, and we entered the acquisition and development space.”

Strickler was named president of CCP in 2016. Today he splits his time between the day-to-day operation of the company and the company’s investing activities (acquisition and development). The company currently operates in 15 states.

“My role today leans toward vision and strategy,” shares Strickler. “We’ve worked really hard to maintain a flexible, family-oriented culture; one that tries to avoid bureaucracy, but still has strong institutional processes and procedures with a culture that remains fundamentally entrepreneurial and unafraid to innovate.”

People-focused Values

As CCP continued to expand and leadership shifted throughout the 2010s, Strickler recognized the need to more clearly articulate some of the business elements that had long been utilized but not formalized, including company values.

Rather than adopting generic corporate platitudes, Strickler opted for an organic, bottom-up approach to identify their guiding principles. The process began with a simple question: Who are our best people?

Through intensive whiteboard sessions, leadership audited the specific traits and behaviors of their key contributors. By filtering through a vast list of attributes and removing redundancies, they distilled the essence of the firm’s success into a set of today’s definitive core values:

• Team First
• Own It
• Professionalism
• Relationship-Oriented
• Integrity

These values are not just words on a page; they are a reflection of the team’s existing DNA.

“Our values are posted on office walls,” says Strickler. “We refer to them at company meetings, in annual reviews and quarterly conversations, in our marketing, recruiting and in client meetings and pitches. In a lot of ways, they’re the guiding compass of how we operate.”

A decade ago, CCP made a strategic organizational investment that speaks to its people-focused values, prioritizing long-term growth over immediate volume: a dedicated broker mentorship program aimed at building the next generation of talent.

Program success relied on veteran brokers who, despite being on 100% commission, sacrificed their time and income to train junior associates. These mentors provided hands-on guidance in everything from cold calling and pitching to the technical precision of professional proposals.

Today, CCP’s reputation for mentorship has created a powerful secondary effect: a steady pipeline of talent eager to join the firm.

“This one initiative alone really encompasses all of our core values,” says Strickler. “I think about team members like Ben Bruni, who was a mentee in a junior broker class ten years ago and is now among the top brokers in Central VA. It’s nice to see this growth and a line of talented people who want to come work here because of it.”

What the Future Holds

What began as a Richmond-based firm has evolved into a powerhouse across the Southeastern United States. CCP’s footprint extends beyond mere square footage; the firm drives regional economic vitality through strategic development, job creation, and a robust network of local vendor partnerships. In addition to financial impact, CCP is also heavily involved in service projects with nonprofits local to the communities of which they are a part.

“We’ve had to adapt to having multiple offices, learning how to best integrate these new locations into our culture,” says Strickler. “Communication is critical to helping everyone feel connected. No one should be left out on an island.”

When thinking about what the next 30 years might look like for the company, it is Strickler’s hope that the core values remain in place, guiding the way to deliver the highest level of service possible. He also hopes the company remains employee owned, returning again and again to the importance of mentorship and junior leadership.

“We have a great track record of developing young professionals,” remarks Strickler. “Our partners recognize the value in developing the next generation of leaders. There are a lot of stories of folks who started in entry level roles here and are partners now. People like Ola Harcum, who immigrated here from Poland as an entry level analyst and is now our CFO. Both Mark and I are very proud of those stories.”

In Strickler’s mind, growth also extends beyond professional development. He embraces strategic evolution as a cornerstone of CCP’s future, anticipating a continued expansion of product offerings, such as their successful 2012 pivot into the hospitality sector.

“Doing things tomorrow we aren’t doing now—that’s part of our entrepreneurial company and culture,” says Strickler. “We have a good discipline for conservative financial management, no corporate debt, and keeping a strong balance sheet. We’re in this for the marathon, not the sprint.”