Argo Real Estate, JLL, Greykite, Centuri Holdings, Michels Corporation, Brennan Investment Group, Realterm, Cushman & Wakefield, The Housing Finance Corporation, Wentworth Capital, JP Morgan, SDCL Efficiency Income Trust, Westbridge Advisory, Avison Young, BVK, Newcore Capital, Avison Young
BVK – Rainer Komenda, who oversaw real estate investments at the €117bn German pension fund, has departed the company, a BVK spokesperson confirmed to IPE Real Assets. Komenda spent over two decades at BVK, having assumed responsibilities as head of the €27bn real estate investment management in 2003, according to his LinkedIn profile.
Greykite – Miguel Izquierdo and Tom Kilgallen have been appointed vice presidents. Izquierdo joins from Starwood Capital Group, where he served as a VP in the European acquisitions team. Based in London and originally from Spain, Izquierdo brings over eight years’ experience in real estate investing across continental Europe. At Greykite, Izquierdo will focus on supporting the identification and pursuit of new investment prospects across the firm’s core geographies, as well as managing portfolio companies. Kilgallen joins from Goldman Sachs, where he worked for over nine years, most recently in the European private alternatives business within Goldman Sachs Asset Management.
Argo Real Estate – Hope Ayers has been appointed asset manager. Ayers brings over eight years of experience in the real estate industry, having held roles at both JLL and Cushman & Wakefield, where she specialised in industrial and logistics. Most recently, she worked in JLL’s industrial tenant representation team. Ayers will be instrumental in driving Argo’s asset management strategies, helping to transform underperforming industrial estates into best-in-class sustainable properties.
Realterm – Paul Underwood has been promoted to Europe CEO, while Brian Oravec has been named Asia Pacific CEO. Underwood previously served as MD, international funds at Realterm, overseeing the firm’s portfolio asset management, leasing operations and financial analysis functions. He will continue to spearhead new product launches and drive regional growth initiatives across Realterm’s targeted European markets. Oravec will lead Realterm’s ongoing expansion efforts throughout Asia, leveraging his deep regional expertise to accelerate the firm’s growth in these key markets. He previously served as CIO, Asia Pacific, for Realterm. Oravec brings exceptional leadership experience to his new role, having co-founded IndoSpace, and serving as IndoSpace’s CEO for 17 years. Based in Singapore, Oravec started his real estate career with Realterm in 2005.
Wentworth Capital – John Peel has been appointed head of capital. Peel brings more than 20 years of global investment experience to the role, including senior positions at Credit Suisse, Partners Group and Park Hill Group. He most recently served as executive director at JP Morgan in Sydney.
The Housing Finance Corporation – David Brigden has been appointed senior commercial director. He joins from Lloyds Banking Group, where he was head of social and supported housing within business and commercial banking, leading tailored financial solutions in the affordable housing sector. In his new role at THFC, Brigden will oversee the relationship management team, covering both portfolio management and loan origination, while driving and identifying the development of new products to support growth and innovation.
Centuri Holdings – Jason Lentz has been appointed senior vice president of fleet and procurement. In this critical role, Lentz will drive Centuri’s enterprise-wide fleet and sourcing strategy, focusing on maximizing equipment utilisation and improving capital efficiency in alignment with the company’s objectives. Most recently, he served as VP of supply chain at Michels Corporation. Prior to Michels, he held leadership positions at Quanta Services, InfraSource LLC and ABBY Construction, with a consistent focus on fleet strategy, procurement optimisation, and safety.
Brennan Investment Group – Dan Smith has been promoted to SVP. Smith, who joined the firm in the summer of 2023, will oversee Brennan’s acquisition efforts across the Chicago, Milwaukee, and Minneapolis regions. In his new role as SVP, Smith will continue to lead acquisition efforts in his core regions, while also supporting the asset management and monetisation of those investments. His focus will remain on value-add investments, ground-up development projects, industrial outdoor storage opportunities, and other opportunistic strategies for the firm.
Newcore Capital – George Coulson has been appointed associate director within its investment team. Coulson brings over a decade of real estate experience to his new role. He joins from Avison Young, where he spent over a year as a director in the healthcare team. Prior to Avison Young, Coulson spent six years at Assura, managing over £400 million in healthcare property acquisitions and disposals before transitioning to strategic asset management across the primary and private healthcare sectors. At Newcore, Coulson will lead on sourcing, underwriting, and portfolio management to maximise asset performance across core-plus and value-add strategies.
Cushman & Wakefield – Conor Flannery has been appointed executive vice chair. Bringing more than 20 years of experience in occupier services and tenant representation, Flannery will further strengthen the firm’s capabilities in offering innovative real estate solutions to clients across the Bay Area. Flannery will be based out of Silicon Valley. Flannery joins Cushman & Wakefield with a proven track record of negotiating complex real estate transactions globally. During his tenure at JLL, Flannery closed over 1,200 leases valued at more than $2bn and structured more than 50 acquisitions totaling $3bn.
SDCL Efficiency Income Trust — Rosemary Boot has been appointed independent non-executive director. Boot will also be appointed as a member of the company’s audit and risk, remuneration, nomination and management engagement committees. She is an experienced non-executive director of alternative asset investment trusts, having served on the boards of Care REIT and Triple Point Energy Transition Trust as senior independent director. Other recent non-executive roles have included Southern Water and trustee of Green Alliance. She is currently a non-executive director of Urban&Civic; Nido Living; and she is a co-founder and non-executive director of Chapter Zero.
Westbridge Advisory – Michelle Pokoj has been appointed head of sales UK. She succeeds Rosanna Woods, who in June was promoted to head of commercial sales Europe. Pokoj has been part of Westbridge’s London team since 2023. Her previous professional experience includes Drooms and Time Change GmbH, where she served as operations manager for Europe.
Avison Young – Daniel Koralewski joins the valuation and advisory team in Poland as assistant valuer. His background includes work on construction projects in London, also involvement in the technical management of the properties. At Avison Young, Koralewski will support the valuation department, focusing on market data analysis, preparing comparative reports, and drafting valuation reports for commercial properties.
To read the latest IPE Real Assets magazine click here.
