People moves: Avignon names Kok impact adviser; Madison promotes Torpey

Savills IM, Madison International Realty, BNP Paribas Asset Management, Greystar Real Estate Partners, JLL, CBRE, Round Hill Capital, Corestate Capital Group, Chancerygate, Leumi UK, Avignon Capital, Avignon Capital, VIA Outlets, PTM Partners, The Moinian Group, Cerberus Capital Management, DigitalBridge

Avignon Capital – The real estate management consultant has appointed Nils Kok as senior impact adviser. Kok will be responsible for leading the sustainability team, be part of Avignon’s investment committee, and work closely with senior management to further integrated ESG considerations into investment processes as well as develop new products and solutions. Kok is a professor in real estate finance at Maastricht University in the Netherlands. Previously, Kok was the founder and CEO of GRESB, a global ESG rating company for real estate and infrastructure investments. Kok also served as chief economist and non-executive board member at GeoPhy, a provider of automated valuations for the real estate sector.

Madison International Realty – The real estate private equity firm has appointed Kyle Torpey as head of US investments. Torpey joined Madison in 2017, was named managing director in 2021, and will continue to be based in Madison’s headquarters in New York City.

Cerberus Capital Management – Rabih Sfeir has joined as a managing director and head of real estate capital formation for the Middle East, based in Dubai. Sfeir recently served as head of capital formation for real estate at DigitalBridge. He previously held senior financial and managerial positions at multinational groups, including Kingdom Hotel Investments and LCH Holding.

Greystar Real Estate Partners – Kerry Hawkins has joined the company as senior director, life science investment management to expand Greystar’s life science asset management function in the US and the overall life science leasing efforts. Hawkins will report to Todd Wigfield, US senior managing director of development at Greystar. Prior to joining Greystar, Hawkins was senior director, capital markets at JLL where she was responsible for driving revenue, sales lead generation and relationship management with owners and capital sources in the commercial real estate industry. Before that, she was first VP, suburban brokerage at CBRE where she oversaw leasing, property management, project management and development teams for asset operations and additional building development.

CBRE Investment Management – Marius Schöner has been named head of EMEA residential operator division, responsible for all residential operator capabilities across the EMEA region. Schöner will also continue in his role as head of Germany and Austria. As head of EMEA residential operator division, Schöner will oversee all asset managers working for the EMEA residential platform and will be responsible for the execution of residential investment strategies. The newly created role is part of CBRE IM’s move towards a more sector-focused approach which introduces a new structure, evolving operations into four sector specialised operator divisions: office, retail, logistics and residential. Since 2014, Schöner has been heading CBRE’s investment management’s business in Germany and Austria. Previously, he held pan-European management positions with Deka Immobilien, Morgan Stanley, MGPA and BlackRock.

Savills Investment Management – The international real estate investment manager has hired Jan Willem Vis as head of client capital, Netherlands. Based in Amsterdam, he will report to Giuseppe Oriani, co-head, client capital EMEA. Working alongside Edgar Hertog and Marcel Fleminks, co-heads of Savills IM’s Netherlands operations, Jan Willem’s role will be to spearhead the next phase of the business’ growth and client relations in the region. With over 20 years of experience in global listed real estate, Willem joins Savills IM from BNP Paribas Asset Management, where he was head of global listed real estate. Prior to this, he was co-head of European listed real estate at ABN AMRO Asset Management, a predecessor of BNP Paribas Asset Management. Willem also previously worked in various other portfolio and risk management roles in European listed real estate at the firm.

BNP Paribas Real Estate UK – Donna Rourke has been appointed director of environmental, social and governance. In this newly created role, Rourke will be responsible for driving strategy, integrating and embedding ESG into the day-to-day business to best serve clients and employees. Rourke joins from the University College of Estate Management she led the marketing communications and brand team and delivered strategic, innovation, sustainability and diversity projects. Prior to this, she held leadership roles in commercial real estate, residential property and student accommodation firms.

CBRE –  The global real estate advisor has appointed Mike Rowlands as an executive director in its national investment team. Rowlands joins from BNP Paribas and Strutt & Parker, where he was co-head of investment and prior to that, head of retail. He has over 30 years of industry experience and brings with him deep connections across all aspect of the capital markets. In his new role, Rowlands will be largely sector agnostic, working across the UK, with a primary focus on developing client relationships and new business opportunities.

Round Hill Capital – The global specialist real estate investment, development and asset management firm has appointed Rajit Dass as senior VP within the capital markets group. Dass will be responsible for raising capital and help identify and address changing investor needs. He will primarily focus on key capital markets in the European continent (Denmark, the Netherlands, France, Finland, Sweden and Iceland), as well as the US. He will be based in London, working alongside Alex Mullins in the UK. Before his last role as head of institutional international sales (ex DACH) at Corestate Capital Group, he worked as an analyst at Andersen and then progressed to become a senior director at CBRE Capital Advisors.

Chancerygate – The industrial property developer and asset manager has appointed Darren Jeal and Paul Stayte as project managers and are based in Chancerygate’s Birmingham and Bristol offices respectively. The company’s finance team has been further strengthened by Mukkarram Ali who is operating from Chancerygate’s Milton Keynes office. Jessica Aukim has been promoted to office manager and PA to directors whilst Katy Evers has become construction documentation manager. Jeal joins after five years at property consultancy JLL where he was an associate director in its Birmingham office. A chartered surveyor, he is responsible for managing the delivery and completion of Chancerygate’s industrial development projects throughout the Midlands. Stayte moves from nationwide property consultancy Gardiner & Theobald, where he worked as an associate director. He is responsible for the management and successful delivery of Chancerygate developments across the South West and South Wales. Ali joins Chancerygate from the audit and assurance team at Deloitte. He is responsible for group reporting and asset management in the company’s finance team.

VIA Outlets – Jaap Tonckens, currently an advisor to the board, was recently appointed as a non-executive member of the board, whilst Rita Schroeven, the European mall operator’s head of legal affairs, is taking up a role as an executive member of the board. Tonckens joined VIA Outlets as an advisor to the board in July last year. Prior to joining VIA Outlets, he spent 11 years at Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield, of which more than eight as group CFO and a member of the management board. He worked for Morgan Stanley & Co in London and New York City for over 14 years. Schroeven has been the head of legal affairs at VIA Outlets since its inception in 2014. Originally joining from Value Retail, she brings more than 25 years of pan-European experience in senior legal roles in the retail and real estate industries including 14 years as VP – legal for Europe at retail brand Foot Locker.

PTM Partners – The real estate investment and development firm has appointed Shari Neissani as vice president of development. In her role, Neissani will focus on projects within the portfolio that are in the pre-development phase, ensuring they align with the company’s overall growth, vision and pillars. Neissani began her career in New York City as an associate director at The Moinian Group before moving on to Extell Development Company where she was the director of sales, asset and interior project management. Neissani moved to Florida in 2016 where she became the senior VP and head of South Florida at RedSky Capital.

Leumi UK – The London-based subsidiary of Israel’s leading international bank, has hired NatWest director Chris Stallard as a new relationship manager to support the property finance desk’s lending ambitions. Most recently, Stallard held the position of director at NatWest, where he was responsible for real estate finance covering bilateral, club and syndicated lending across various sub-sectors of the property market.