People moves: Cortés joins Tishman Speyer as managing director

Tishman Speyer, Azora Capital, JLL, Charter Hall, CBRE, Plagazi, Howard Kennedy, Sitowise, British Land, Precede Capital Partners, Greystone, Knight Frank, Bidwells, Mitsubishi Corporation, Goodman Group

Tishman Speyer – Rodrigo Cortés has joined the firm as a managing director and will lead the firm’s capital partner relationships across the UK, Ireland, the Netherlands, Southern Europe and Israel. Based in Madrid, Cortés will work alongside the European acquisitions team, continuing to broaden Tishman Speyer’s investments in Spain, a country of growing focus for the firm. Cortés joins from Azora Capital where he was the head of fundraising and client development. Prior to this, he worked for 13 years at Goldman Sachs in London. There he held roles in both M&A and in equity capital markets. 

CBRE – Martin Thom has been appointed head of hotel valuations in Europe. Thom has been at CBRE since 2006 and has held several roles spanning multiple markets across Europe. He is currently the head of hotel valuations in Germany, and in his expanded role will oversee the firm’s European hotel valuations business and will lead the coordination of cross-border portfolio valuations in the sector. Scott Thurman has joined CBRE Capital Markets as senior managing director and head of federal housing administration lending. Thurman will be responsible for overseeing CBRE’s underwriting and loan production teams across the US  that originate, service and fund federal housing administration-insured loans. Thurman joins CBRE from Greystone, where he served as head of production for the firm’s federal housing administration healthcare platform. He has previously held the positions of chief credit officer and chief underwriter during a career that began at the US Department of HUD.

JLL – Ryuta Takeuchi has joined JLL in Japan as head of capital markets, based in Tokyo. Takeuchi will be responsible for JLL’s capital markets platform across the country. He will also work with the firm’s extended global capital markets team to facilitate inbound investment opportunities into Japan’s commercial real estate market and advise domestic capital owners on outbound investment. Takeuchi joins JLL from Mitsubishi Corporation where he was president and CEO of its global real estate investment arm Diamond Reality Management. Before Mitsubishi, Takeuchi held a variety of leadership positions in MC Asset Management in Europe. And UBS-Mitsubishi Corporation General Partner – UBS- PREMF. Matt Brunsdon has been appointed head of logistics and industrial in West Australia to lead the team. Brunsdon joins JLL from Charter Hall, where he spent eight years running industrial asset management and property management for the West Australia and South Australia markets. Returning to JLL to rejoin the team is director, Brett Mathanda, who has spent the past year working for the West Australian Government. Associate director, Chris Monterosso joins the team from CBRE, where he spent five years with a historical focus on the northern corridor. Executive, Luke Schreier and analyst, Paige Palmer, who have been promoted from within JLL, add to the team’s expertise, which includes sales and leasing brokerage, to advising businesses operating in the logistics and industrial sectors in Perth.

Precede Capital Partners – Nigel Webb has joined the firm’s board as non-executive director. Webb will also sit on Precede Capital’s credit and ESG committees. Webb brings more than three decades of experience leading development projects at British Land. He oversaw British Land’s activities throughout the UK and Ireland and across all sectors, including office, retail, residential and logistics.

Knight Frank – The property consultancy has appointed Karen Bowes and Shishir Baijal to its group executive board responsible for the UK and global Knight Frank business. Bowes joins the board in the newly created role of group chief people officer and will also become a proprietary partner at Knight Frank. Bowes brings with her extensive people and culture expertise following a 25-year career in law and financial services, most recently with Barclays Bank and previously through numerous International HR roles with Capital One Financial Services. Baijal joins the board to add international experience and wide-ranging corporate acumen after his 45-year-plus career across a range of sectors including hotels, leisure and real estate. Baijal is also chairman and managing director of Knight Frank India.

Goodman Group – George Zoghbi has joined the board as an independent director of Goodman Limited and Goodman Funds Management Limited. He is currently the chief executive officer of The Arnott’s Group following its acquisition by private equity group KKR. He is also a director of Brambles and a strategic advisor to Altimetrik – a US- based digital and IT solutions company. 

Bidwells – Ash Blewer has joined the company from National Grid, where he held the role of land officer for two years. In his new role as associate, Blewer will be responsible for liaising with landowners to facilitate the development of solar and battery storage projects on behalf of his clients. George Ellis-Hancock has also joined the team as an energy and renewables consultant from Scottish Power, where he advised on renewable real estate projects. Ellis-Hancock will work on the developer-side advising on onshore renewable energy developments across Scotland. Also joining the energy and renewables team are Rachael Mackintosh and Debbie Small. Both have considerable experience working for large development firms and bring industry knowledge and support to the UK-wide team. Mackintosh joins as an energy and renewables assistant from Balfour Beatty, where she worked on major infrastructure projects. She will be supporting partner Andy Fewings on client management and developer work in England and Wales. Small, who previously worked with the construction director at housebuilder Persimmon Homes, is the new energy and renewables PA and will be assisting the head of the department, Ros Clifford.

Plagazi – The Swedish clean-tech company has appointed Michael Engsted chief sales officer. Engsted has previously managing director in the UK, building and maintaining client and project relationships in the UK and European market segments. Engsted’s previous experiences include acting as MD of AGA’s UK subsidiary, MD of two environmental and renewables subsidiaries of Kingspan Environmental, acting as CEO of Weiss, a developer of large-scale projects within the renewable energy sector, and being a senior board advisor to LBC Energy Advisory. 

Howard Kennedy – Huseyin Huseyin has joined the London law firm’s real estate practice as a partner. Huseyin joins Howard Kennedy from Harold Benjamin where he was a partner in property development, construction and planning for over six years. Huseyin has provided strategic advice to national house builders and developers on the acquisition, planning, development and disposal of residential led mixed-use schemes constructed on greenfield and brownfield sites in London and the South East.

Sitowise – Timo Palonkoski has resigned from his position as business area director of buildings and as a member of the group management team. Jan Tapper, business unit director of special design services, temporarily takes over the business area director’s tasks. Tapper has been with the company since 2013. He has previously worked as a business unit director of MEP engineering and special design services. He has also been responsible for the buildings business area’s acquisitions. Palonkoski has been in his position since September 2018. Previously he worked at Wise Group Finland.