Bret began his career in  in Denver, Colorado, joining LaSalle Partners. He Relocated to Dallas with the firm and over the course of the next 17 years served in multiple leadership capacities including national leasing director and president of the South division. Bret helped lead the firm’s  growth from a regional firm of 150 employees to a Global firm of several thousand eventually merging with Jones Lang Wooten and public offering as JLL.

Bret cofounded Capstar commercial estate services and Capstar investment management and as president, established operations in Dallas, Houston, Chicago and Phoenix. He oversaw the sale of the company to Cassidy Turley where he took over as regional managing principal responsible for Denver, Dallas and Houston. The firm merged with DTZ and Cushman and Wakefield where Bret served in multiple leadership positions as well as developing the Point North student housing project in Austin TX. Since then, Bret has been an active investor in over 30 development and opportunistic commercial real estate projects including office, data center, industrial, student housing, and multi family projects.

Professional affiliations have included Urban Land Institute, Dallas Real Estate Council, Building Owners and Managers Association and Board of Advisors for the Dallas Regional Chamber of Commerce. Bret has acted in an advisory or leadership role for Search Ministries, Youth Believing in Change, and the Bret Bunnett Foundation for Spinal Cord Research.

Bret graduated from Texas Tech university with a BA degree in finance with the real estate emphasis. He entered law school at SMU in the fall of 1981. He has the unique distinction of resigning his seat  after one day of class to pursue his ambition of  a career in the commercial estate industry