Jessica Averbuch

Jessica Averbuch grew up in St. Petersburg, Florida. She received her Bachelor of Arts from Washington University with a major in Anthropology and a minor in Psychology and a Master’s degree in Anthropology from the University of Texas. Her career ambition was to become a Primatologist and study primates in the wild. A myriad of factors led her to pivot towards a more conventional career including her first home purchase experience and a strong desire to be an entrepreneur. She moved to Nashville and began her real estate career in 2001 as an Affiliate Broker with Shirley Zeitlin & Company Realtors. As her real estate business grew, Jessica’s academic background lent itself to incorporate training into her role and responsibilities in the firm. She became the Vice President of Education for the firm in 2007 and became an owner in the same year. In subsequent years, she was first named Managing Broker and then CEO in 2016. Jessica was tasked with leading the company into the future in a dynamic industry in a rapidly growing region. The company’s affiliation with Sotheby’s International Realty in 2018 was a strategic move to align Zeitlin’s locally respected name a well-recognized global brand which provided to be the right decision at exactly the right time. Throughout her 20 plus year tenure, Jessica has continued to sell real estate and serve as an advocate for her loyal client base.

Jessica has received numerous awards including Nashville Business Journal’s Nashville Emerging Leaders Award in 2010, Woman of Influence Award in 2018 and Most Admired CEOs Award in 2022. Jessica was also recognized in 2020 as a Habitat for Humanity Groundbreaker. She is proud to be consistently ranked in the Nashville Business Journal Book of Lists as one of the top female-owned and family-owned businesses and residential real estate firms.

One of Jessica’s passions is playing an active role in her community. She leads the Zeitlin Charitable Fund initiatives that raises money for several local non-profits including Second Harvest, Our Kids, Bridges of Williamson County and Shower Up. She is also involved in the following civic organizations: Nashville Downtown Rotary, Nashville Downtown Partnership, Nashville Chamber of Commerce and Williamson Inc. She is a proud advocate of many non-profits including Gilda’s Club of Middle Tennessee, Renewal House, National Council of Jewish Women and Jewish Federation of Nashville. As a graduate of Leadership Nashville, Jessica uses the experience and knowledge she gained through the program to further her commitment to community service and engagement.

Jessica and her husband live in the Hillsboro West End neighborhood. Their college age children graduated from University School of Nashville and Hume Fogg and now attend Belmont University and NYU. In her spare time, she enjoys spending time with friends and family, hearing live music, reading, being outside and participating in races of all distances. She has run 20+ marathons in addition to more half marathons and 10Ks then she can count! Her favorite hometown race is the Harpeth Hills Flying Monkey Marathon which she has run 8 times so far. In 2022, she fulfilled two bucket list goals when she ran the Boston marathon and the Grand Canyon Rim to Rim and she looks forward to many more epic adventures.