DeeDee Davis, Pensacola

CEO and Managing Broker, NAI Pensacola Commercial Real Estate

Margaret Thatcher, the first female British prime minister and a personal hero of DeeDee Davis, once famously said, “If you want something said, ask a man; if you want something done, ask a woman.”

Davis, the oldest of five siblings, said she saw this firsthand through the actions of her mother. She was a working woman and a homemaker who cooked, kept a beautiful home and looked like a million bucks doing it.

Women are expected to do it all, Davis said, and those in leadership positions are expected to do it all well.

So, it is a point of pride that Davis is CEO and managing broker for NAI Pensacola, the only certified, woman-owned commercial real estate organization in Northwest Florida. Davis, who has worked at NAI for 20 years and has accumulated an impressive client base, purchased the business five years ago and has taken on the roles of sales and leasing, administration, hiring, training and mentorship.

“I am very proud of the culture we have created at NAI,” Davis said. “In an industry dominated by men, I hope I can be an example for other women
in business.”

Davis is no stranger to leading by example. A longtime educator, she was Florida’s Teacher of the Year in 1990, an honor that is bestowed by fellow teachers, school administrators, parents and the business community at large. Second to being a mother — and now a grandmother to two children — it is Davis’ proudest achievement.

Upon completing an undergraduate degree in political science at Auburn University, Davis went on to obtain a master’s in education at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Her 26 years of teaching American history, constitutional law, American government and economics carried her to classrooms in Nevada, Alabama and Gulf Breeze.

In 1998, Davis’ contributions to education helped her win a seat in the Florida House of Representatives. Locally, she has served numerous boards, including at the University of West Florida and the Downtown Improvement Board, and was the past chairman of the Council on Aging, which provides services for the elderly and disabled.

The latter, she said, “deals with some very unsexy issues. I’ve been involved with them for 25 years now and it’s not pretty, but it is something that affects us all and is meaningful to me.”

Davis finds moments of peace in her garden, where she spends hours tending herbs and pruning hydrangeas. She’s a bit like her mother that way, she said, and is proud to have absorbed her green thumb as well as her tenacity.

With a plate as full as hers, Davis said she has formerly entertained questions from people asking how she does it and how she makes it look so easy.

“Well, it’s not easy,” Davis said. “And, you just do it.”

DeeDee Davos was nominated for the 2024 Pinnacle Awards by Carol Carlan, Director of Philanthropy, Institute for Human & Machine Cognition.

Videography by The Workmans