Cushman & Wakefield, Slate Asset Management, JLLCorestate CapitalPatrizia, Vonovia, Cluttons, Knight Frank, ATP Real Estate, Aberdeen Standard Investments, Colliers International, CBRE, Savills Investment Management, Standard Life Aberdeen, Catella IM Benelux

Cushman & Wakefield – The global real estate services firm has hired the University of Cambridge’s commercial and estates director Michael Aston as its head of UK life sciences. Aston will lead and develop the firm’s existing sector relationships within London, Cambridge and Oxford, and across other UK knowledge clusters, with a focus on major investment and development projects. Aston has spent the last five years at the University of Cambridge where he was responsible for the expansion of Europe’s leading life sciences cluster at Cambridge Biomedical Campus. Aston began his career at Deloitte Corporate Finance and subsequently developed his experience at GSK and DTZ before working for several years in development consultancy in the Middle East. 

Colliers International – Yukihiro Ogasawara has been appointed as Japan managing director and chairman. Ogasawara will be responsible for leading the growth of Colliers business in Japan and will be a member of the Asia executive team. He joins Colliers Japan from CBRE, where he was vice-chairman of capital markets and led a strategy to advise Japanese capital for investment into regional and global markets. Prior to CBRE, he worked at Sumitomo Realty & Development in both Japan and the US, serving as general manager of the international business department before transitioning to commercial real estate brokerage at Sumitomo Real Estate sales and serving on the board of directors for Sumitomo Real Estate Investment Advisors. 

ATP Real Estate — The property arm of Denmark’s largest pension fund ATP has expanded its asset management team with the appointment of Peter Larsen. He joins the firm in the role of asset manager from his current job as asset manager at Aberdeen Standard Investments. A fortnight ago, ATP Real Estate announced the appointment of Jesper Kjer as a new asset manager in the team. Both newcomers are set to start work on 1 November.

Savills Investment Management – The international real estate investment manager has appointed Amy Shah as global head of human resources. Shah will be based in London, with overall responsibility for all HR activities, including the implementation of the firm’s global HR strategy. She joins Savills IM after more than 12 years at Standard Life Aberdeen, where she was most recently head of HR, EMEA. She has also worked at Service Innovation Group UK and the UCLH NHS Foundation Trust.

Slate Asset ManagementMolly Mahoney has joined the real estate investment manager as vice president in the firm’s Chicago office. Mahoney will be responsible for supporting Slate’s capital raising efforts in the US. Mahoney joins from JLL where she was a managing director on the funds advisory team. Prior to that, she held VP positions at Shelter Rock Capital Advisors and Heller Advisory. 

Catella IM BeneluxMaurits Olde Meule has been appointed managing director. Olde Meule joined Catella in 2018 as asset manager and was promoted to director of asset management in 2019, in which capacity he also became a member of the management team of Catella IM Benelux. He previously worked for CBRE as commercial manager, asset services. In addition to his new role as MD, Olde Meule will continue as director asset management for now and remain the point of contact for all clients and employees. He will manage the Catella IM Benelux activities from its offices in Amsterdam and Maastricht. Olde Meule succeeds Voäs Brouns, who recently announced his intention to step down to make way for a new generation of managers at Catella.

CluttonsCharlie Ardern has joined the property consultancy as a partner in the valuation team to help build its Northern UK presence from a Manchester base. Ardern has spent his career of more than 20 years in north-west UK, most of this time with Knight Frank.  

Corestate CapitalKlaus Schmitt will be taking over as chairman of the management board (CEO) for an initial period of three years with effect from 1 January 2021. He will replace the current chairman of the management board Lars Schnidrig, who will be leaving Corestate at his own request and on amicable terms as of 31 December 2020 to seek a new professional challenge. Schmitt was a member of the management board at Patrizia for over 14 years and managing director of Patrizia Projektentwicklung before that. Before joining Patrizia, Klaus Schmitt had leading roles at Siemens Real Estate and other companies. The supervisory board is also expanding the management board with the addition of two new functions. Daniel Löhken will join the management board as chief legal and HR officer. In addition, a separate chief financial officer will be appointed to the management board, with a suitable candidate to be recruited as part of a structured process. Löhken has over ten years of experience in the real estate industry and in real estate financing, as well as in capital market law. Before joining Corestate, Löhken was working for Vonovia and Clifford Chance.