C-Level Awards 2026: Steve Bersell, President/COO, Fiduciary Real Estate Development

When longtime Fiduciary Real Estate Development president and CEO Brett Miller announced he would step down and retire as CEO at the end of 2027, he tapped Steve Bersell as his successor.

Bersell became president of Fiduciary Real Estate Development Inc. on Jan. 1 while retaining his role as chief operating officer. He joined the vertically integrated, Milwaukee-based real estate firm and the largest owner of market-rate multifamily apartment units in Wisconsin in 2012 as vice president and general counsel and was named COO in 2017.

Bersell earned a Bachelor of Business Administration in real estate and finance from the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Graaskamp Real Estate program, followed by a joint J.D. and MBA from DePaul University’s College of Law and Charles H. Kellstadt Graduate School of Business in 1996.

He began his real estate career at Cushman & Wakefield, where from 2009 to 2012 he represented tenants in office lease negotiations for the global real estate services firm. He joined FRED in 2012 as vice president and general counsel, representing the firm in legal matters while serving as director of operations. He was named chief operating officer in 2017, assuming full profit-and-loss responsibility for FRED’s real estate development and construction divisions, along with oversight of all legal, risk management and acquisition and disposition activities.