Phillip Cantrell

A Nashville native, Phillip Cantrell graduated from the University of Tennessee in 1982, then followed in his father and grandfather’s footsteps into the commercial printing industry. That career would take him on a 19-year journey. Starting out in the pressroom and working his way up the ladder in some of the largest companies in the area, the last 6 years of his printing career were spent as the General Manager of one of the largest commercial printing companies in the area. During that tenure he was responsible for building the team that helped the company experience unprecedented growth by increasing sales six-fold, along with accompanying increases in market share and profitability. Along the way, Phillip attended Middle Tennessee State University with the goal of an M.S. in Economics – but that degree is unfinished, lacking 2 classes and a thesis. Family and career came first. Simultaneous with his printing career, Phillip began investing in residential rehab properties in 1988. (Side note: Commonly called “flipping” now, that is a term created entirely by HGTV and completely unknown at the time.) Starting out by moving into the properties and doing much of the work himself, he then progressed to spinning off the investing activities into a separate company with full-time employees. Over the years, it became apparent that a career decision was needed – either sell the rehab company and continue in commercial printing or leave printing and move full time into real estate. Given his love for real estate, the choice was clear, and the 19-year printing career came to an end in 2001. Once the decision was made to become a full time Realtor® and investor, it was a natural evolution of this “new” career to set his sights on obtaining a broker license and eventually opening his own brokerage. As with most activities in Phillip’s life, it’s 110% effort or nothing…and failure is never an option! Actively involved in selling real estate for several years, Phillip has represented buyers and sellers in more than 750 transactions. In March 2006 Phillip and wife Amanda founded Benchmark Realty LLC in the front bedroom of a house in downtown Franklin TN. Establishing it to primarily serve high-end new construction in the Greater Nashville area, the company adopted a traditional boutique brokerage model and quickly grew the brokerage to a team of 13 affiliates. Then came the economic downturn of late 2007, followed not long after by the closure of many of Benchmark’s builder clients. Never one to accept defeat, Phillip reorganized and re-launched Benchmark in February 2008 under a fee-based (100% commission) model. Combined with aggressive recruiting campaigns, a laser focus on brand quality, and best-in-class operational control, the company grew quickly. Today the firm has 1550 affiliates operating out of 8 offices, who collectively closed roughly $5 billion in sales via 10,000 transactions in 2022. Seeing a strong cultural and business model fit, Cantrell merged Benchmark with United Real Estate in December 2020 to become part of what is now the 6th largest real estate brokerage. Sharing the strongly held belief that leadership’s perpetual obligation is service to others, Phillip was recently asked by United’s executive team to contribute to the larger organization by accepting an additional role of EVP Strategy for United. He continues at the helm of Benchmark as CEO. The overriding goal is to share as much knowledge and experience as possible from this 40-year business career, so that it may benefit as many people as possible. Improving the lives of others is the mission – of both Phillip and of United.