From a chance encounter in a rental car that launched a career to transforming real estate education, the Brownlees have turned every opportunity into something bigger.

When you picture the moment your life changes, you often imagine something monumental.

The setting, the people and the feeling will let you know something unforgettable is about to happen.

However, life-changing moments can frequently happen in the most unassuming places.

For example, in an Enterprise Rent-A-Car stuck in heavy traffic on the Dallas North Tollway.

It’s in this exact location that John Brownlee’s career, and life, would take a decisive turn.

A Lubbock native, John graduated from Texas Tech University with his Bachelor of Business Administration in Marketing from the Jerry S. Rawls College of Business in 1994. 

“I actually enjoyed going to classes, but it was just the whole experience,” John said. “I made a lot of lifelong friends here, and I think all of the things we always talk about when we talk about Texas Tech, about grit and determination, a lot of that came from the experiences I had here.”

Shortly after graduating, he started a job in the Enterprise Rent-A-Car management training program in Dallas. 

Abiding by the company motto, “We’ll Pick You Up,” John found himself transporting a commercial real estate professional within the first two weeks of his new role. 

The woman worked for Holliday Fenoglio, Dockerty and Gibson (later HFF), and during the drive, she began telling John about the company and opportunities that came with working there.

By the time they arrived at her office, John was sold on changing career paths.

“She had one of the principals come down and meet me on the curb, and that sounded a lot more fun than what I was doing, which was vacuuming cars in August with a full suit,” John said while laughing. “I ended up interviewing a week later, and they offered me a job, which was essentially a glorified copyboy position at the time, but it got my foot in the door. And from that, I fell in love with the company, fell in love with the industry and the rest is history, honestly.”

Support the Brownlee Center for Real Estate at give.ttu.edu. 

That’s John’s humble nature, underselling 30 years of remarkable success.

With the support of his wife, Rachel, and his “all-in” attitude, John has built a notable career. Over three decades in the commercial real estate industry, he has originated and structured more than $12 billion in transactions, progressing from “glorified copyboy” to a principal at a firm he co-founded and earning the CRE® (Counselor of Real Estate) designation.

With this experience under his belt, John and Rachel have embarked on a new endeavor — the next generation of commercial real estate professionals — by investing their time and money at Texas Tech.

Identification & Origination

Like most “overnight successes,” John’s took years.

Although he was excited about his new role, he was thrust into an entirely new industry and had to spend time learning the ropes.

“My degree was in marketing, not in finance, but I found myself in the finance world for commercial real estate,” John said. “So, I knew I had to climb a little bit of a steeper hill than some of the other folks who were already in the business. But it goes back to the lessons I learned at Texas Tech. I had to keep my head down and work hard, but I realized that this was something I wanted to do, and I was very committed to it.”

By employing his Texas Tech grit, John naturally rose through the ranks at the company. He immersed himself in the finance side of the industry, finding debt and equity for transactions, an aspect of his career he would come to love.

His career progression continued for roughly a decade until he became a partner in 2003, when he and a group of senior executives purchased their firm. They focused intensively on expanding their client base and growing the company until 2007, when they were able to take the company public. 

“The firm continued to grow and became a No. 1 market share nationally for what we did from a real estate capital markets perspective,” John said. “So really anybody’s win was the team’s win. We were transacting many of the national iconic assets throughout the United States and that was really fun to be part of.”

In 2019, HFF merged with JLL, a Fortune 500 company and global professional services firm that specializes in real estate and investment management. During this merger, John took on the role of a senior managing director at JLL, a position he held for the next five years.

At that point, John was ready to make a change.

“I wanted a new challenge,” he said. “I wanted to build a new team. I wanted to test some different areas of my brain.”

The new challenge came in the form of launching his own firm. In 2025, John co-founded Brownlee Waggoner Holdings, LLC, a Dallas-based real estate investment firm where he is now a principal. The firm is focused on the acquisition of commercial real estate throughout Texas.

As John spoke of navigating the industry, leadership positions in numerous industry organizations and his career growth, he described himself as “fairly proficient at what he did,” which earned a smirk from Rachel, a fellow 1994 Texas Tech graduate with a Bachelor of Arts in Advertising and a minor in marketing.

“We got married, and once we started having kids, I made the choice to stay home with the kids. And so that was my job, so I could just hold down the fort while he continued to build his career,” Rachel said. “I was always proud of him because I knew where he started. I knew he started at the very bottom of a company and had to work his way up and didn’t have all the real estate experience that some of these other people had coming out of college with finance degrees. He worked really, really hard.”

It’s hard to argue with Rachel, because this isn’t the only area of his life where John’s drive is evident. The couple has translated this same determination into support for their alma mater.

Underwriting & Due Diligence

In 2015, Texas Tech’s Rawls College established a new center focused on commercial real estate education — then known as the Center for Real Estate. Although the center is thriving today, nearly 40 years of groundwork went into its foundation.

Paul Goebel, Rawls College professor emeritus, spent decades teaching commercial real estate classes and advising the Real Estate Organization (REO), a student group that strives to create opportunities for students interested in the industry to engage with commercial real estate industry professionals, observe projects firsthand and analyze markets and investments.

“That was the beginning,” Goebel said in a 2023 story. “I was pretty much a caretaker keeping REO alive all those years, and it has grown and flourished to a prominent student organization with successful graduates.”

REO has remained strong over the years, but commercial real estate education had its ups and downs during Goebel’s 37-year tenure at Texas Tech. At one point, he was one of only two professors teaching commercial real estate courses, and he understood that for the center to succeed, growth was essential.

When the other faculty member left Texas Tech, Goebel needed to make an immediate hire. 

“We were so lucky,” Goebel said. “The stars just kind of aligned, and I was able to hire Jared Harrell in 2015.”

From there, Harrell, an associate professor of practice in the Area of Finance, took the reins as director and began building the center.

Open to Rawls College students and select majors in the Davis College of Agricultural Sciences & Natural Resources and the Edward E. Whitacre Jr. College of Engineering, the center promotes excellence in commercial real estate education through academic programming, student engagement, research initiatives and strong partnerships with alumni and industry experts.

By completing four real estate courses (12 credit hours), students earn a Certificate in Commercial Real Estate. The certificate prepares graduates for careers in commercial real estate and related industries, equipping them with skills in brokerage, appraisal and property and asset management. 

However, one of the most important aspects of the center, as well as REO, takes place outside the classroom through internships, industry partnerships and visits. 

Combining students’ classroom learning with this boots-on-the-ground experience facilitates opportunities to learn directly from industry experts and gain practical professional skills. This enhances their understanding of the industry and helps them build connections that can benefit their careers. It is precisely this kind of academic excellence, and the innovative partnerships that sustain it, that philanthropy makes possible.

“It creates exposure to a network,” Harrell said. “Students realize that the idea of getting a job or having a successful career is really tied with who they can connect with. I always hear real estate is a personal, relationship-driven industry, but more than anything, I’m encouraging these students to leverage the resources they have. They have the entire Texas Tech degree behind them, and then we’ve got this hyper-focused, specialized subset of insanely successful people who genuinely want to help them as a student and even as a young professional, they’re willing to invest.”

In an effort to strengthen connections with alumni in the industry, the center and REO launched an alumni conference in 2021. It was here that John first connected back with Texas Tech and the center. 

When looking for a keynote speaker for the conference, Harrell had a former student recommend John. After connecting on a brief Zoom call, there was no doubt in Harrell’s mind John would be perfect for the role.

“I was like, ‘Man, this is the guy,’” Harrell said, nodding his head. “I think it was just his love for Texas Tech really drove being the right speaker in that moment. 

From this first visit back, John was ready to support the center. He spoke at the conference on a Friday and spent the weekend talking with Harrell about the program’s potential and his hopes for the future. Then that Saturday night, John and Rachel made their first donation to the program.

John’s motivation definitely stemmed from his experience at the conference and his discussion with Harrell, but it was a conversation with a recent alumnus that really made him start thinking. In that talk, he learned he had created a life-changing moment similar to his own.

At a funeral service for his childhood best friend over a decade earlier, John spoke with a young man who was still in high school about his job. Fast forward to the conference, that same man was now a Red Raider graduate and had earned his Certificate in Commercial Real Estate while in college.

“He told me that five-minute conversation we had that gave him something to focus on towards real estate, and now he’s a very successful asset manager in the industry,” John said. “That had an impact on me individually, too. I thought to myself, ‘Okay, if we could do it for one, we can expand that. How can we magnify that to more than just one individual?’”

Closing the Deal

John launched into answering that question. He knew achieving the vision Harrell had for the center, a vision in which he also firmly believed, would require more action beyond just his and Rachel’s own commitment. It would take more to truly transform lives, to impact students beyond their own circle and open doors for the next generation.

He worked closely with Margaret L. Williams, dean of the Rawls College, and Harrell to determine the next steps.

“There’s a path to every single conversation I have with John,” Harrell said. “Without fail, as we’re getting near the end of the conversation, he says, ‘Jared, what can I be doing to help you?’ And he genuinely means it. He is always looking for a way to open a door, support a student or move the center forward.”

The answer, they agreed, was reconnecting Texas Tech alumni in the commercial real estate industry with the college and its program. The pathway: an advisory council.

John volunteered to chair the council and helped Williams and Harrell identify other alumni in the industry who would be willing to invest their time and expertise. 

While John spearheaded the effort to gather people who would be interested in supporting the center, it was he and Rachel together who created the space for people to learn and get involved.

“Anyone who knows the Brownlees knows that Rachel’s hospitality is one of the major reasons we’re here today,” Harrell said. “Rachel and John have opened their Circle B Ranch up to our real estate community many times, hosting gatherings that have helped knit together a community of alumni and industry partners. Rachel’s sense of grace, her style and her ability to light up a room are the perfect complement to John’s energy and drive. Together they create the kind of welcoming environment where real estate relationships and big ideas can take root.”

Bringing together those who had a vested interest in the program’s success seemed to be the key. At their first alumni conference, around 75 people attended. In 2026, they anticipate more than 400 attendees; a growth also reflected in the program’s enrollment and donor contributions. That growth — in people, in partnerships and in presence — is exactly what elevates a campus and community.

And while this growth was a combined effort, Harrell credits a large portion of their accomplishment back to John and Rachel.

“That’s when our student enrollment started to grow. That’s when our hiring started to get better. That’s when our fundraising started to get better,” Harrell said. “That was his initiative. His fingerprints are all over the program.”

Similar to his career, John’s hard work and perseverance created a natural progression to his involvement. In addition to leading the advisory council, John serves on the Texas Tech Foundation Board and the Rawls College Dean’s Advisory Council and mentors students enrolled in the center.

In every way possible, John and Rachel have been true champions for Texas Tech, Rawls College and the Center for Real Estate — a quality that has a tangible impact and has been deeply appreciated by Harrell.

“They’ve been here in Lubbock almost every weekend,” Harrell said. “John has mentored students. They’ve helped us recruit advisory council members. They’ve done the slow, sometimes invisible work that it takes to build a program, long before there was any conversation about the name you see on the screen. Yes, their financial contribution is significant, but I truly believe that their greatest contribution is the time, the energy and the sweat equity they have poured into this place, shoulder to shoulder with me and our team at Rawls College.”

John and Rachel had been consistent donors to the center, and John’s volunteer work gave him an inside perspective, an understanding of the program likely second only to Harrell’s. So, when the couple began discussing their legacy, it went hand-in-hand with their hopes for the future of Texas Tech, the Center for Real Estate and the future of the commercial real estate industry. 

They knew that for the center to have the magnitude of impact that it could, it needed a steady source of income, and they could be the ones to provide it. They could be the catalyst that would take the center to the next level.

This was the final push that motivated them to make a significant financial commitment to the center and establish a sizable endowment. Honoring that investment, as well as the countless hours they’ve spent supporting the program, Texas Tech renamed the center the John and Rachel Brownlee Center for Real Estate in March 2026.

“For us, both Rachel and I, we started talking about what the things are that we want to do for the rest of our lives,” John said. “And, from a giving standpoint, we’ve established three pillars: faith, family and Texas Tech, candidly. This program, specifically within Texas Tech, hits three of our passions, which again are Texas Tech; two, the real estate industry that’s given us so much in our lives; and then three, helping young people. And if you can find anything that unites your passions in one fell swoop, this is it. So, we are all in, and it’s great to see the growth and to have our part in it.”

Like her spouse, Rachel was equally committed to bolstering the university that had given so much to them and the people with whom they have become so close.

“It is definitely an honor and a blessing to be able to give back to Texas Tech because it has done so much for us,” she said, speaking to the crowd at the announcement of their gift and the center’s new name. “It gave us our education, it gave us our West Texas grit, and it gave us each other because we met here in 1993. For me, and I think John would agree, the most important part of our time being back here at Texas Tech has just been getting to know the people here — the friendships and the connections — it’s made it very special. So, I just hope that everyone knows, although the Brownlee Center for Real Estate will lead to a lasting legacy, I also want them to know how much they all mean to us.”

The Brownlees’ donation will open doors for the nearly 300 students enrolled in the commercial real estate courses administered by the Brownlee Center for Real Estate, as well as future generations of Texas Tech students. The gift will provide comprehensive support for the Brownlee Center for Real Estate by funding scholarships, internships, student travel to conferences and events, faculty and staff support, research and other program needs.

Their holistic support not only signals to students, faculty, staff, alumni and the real estate industry that Texas Tech is fully committed to commercial real estate education, but it creates momentum and steepens the trajectory of a program already on the rise.

The difference the Brownlees have had on the center demonstrates the power of high-quality relationships in an industry driven by just that, and it’s a model for others to see the impact they can have when they go invest.

“The Brownlees have made an enduring commitment that tells students, faculty, employers, and alumni that Texas Tech is all in on commercial real estate,” Harrell, director of the Brownlee Center for Real Estate, said. “It gives us a platform to grow academics, student experiences, and industry engagement for decades to come.”

For Harrell, the Brownlees’ greatest legacy was never going to be measured in dollars, but rather in the impact they can have — the spirit at the heart of ON&ON: The Campaign for Texas Tech University.

“They have made a remarkable gift, but even more, it’s about the kind of people we want our students to become,” Harrell continued. “When future students see the Brownlee name on the center, I hope they learn that real success in commercial real estate, just like life, is not measured in transactions or deals or buildings developed, it’s measured in the relationships you build, the integrity with which you do your work, and how you invest in the next generation.”

Those interested in supporting the Brownlee Center for Real Estate can visit give.ttu.edu or contact Ryan Todd, managing director of development, at ryan.todd@ttu.edu.