Union Investment Real Estate, Urbeo, Latham & Watkins, Gecina, OMERS Infrastructure, Morgan Stanley, Dune Real Estate, Harworth Group, Town Centre Securities
Gecina – The French REIT has appointed Valérie Britay deputy CEO in charge of the office division. Britay joined Gecina in July 2017 as executive director offices. She was previously with Unibail-Rodamco, where she was sales director then deputy MD of the office division, before being appointed MD retail France. Elena Minardi, who joined Gecina in April 2018 as chief of staff will now be part of the group’s executive committee as director of strategic planning and partnerships. Minardi began her career with DDB then McCann Erickson in Milan, before being recruited by the Umberto Veronesi Foundation. In 2011, she joined the London-based McArthurGlen group, where she worked as brand partner marketing manager, before moving to Paris in 2014 with the consulting firm McKinsey & Company as senior associate then engagement manager.
Union Investment Real Estate – Michael Bütter has been appointed chairman of the management board, CEO, and head of the real estate segment with effect from October. He is taking over the role from Jörn Stobbe, who will remain part of the management board and focus on areas with high added value, including value-add transactions, as head of asset management. Bütter currently sits on the supervisory and advisory boards of various property and digital companies and is a member of the RICS management board in Germany. He has previously held senior management positions at companies including Vonovia, Scout24, ImmobilienScout, Corestate Capital and TLG Immobilien.
Harworth Group – The land regeneration specialist has appointed Lynda Shillaw to succeed Owen Michaelson as CEO. Her appointment will take effect on 1 November, allowing time for a handover before Michaelson retires from the company on 31 December. Shillaw is currently group property director and a board member at Town Centre Securities. Before that, she was divisional CEO, property at the Manchester Airports Group. This followed a long career managing both investment and development real estate portfolios for BT and Co-operative Group before joining Lloyds Banking Group as global head of its real estate lending division. She is also a non-executive director of The Crown Estate and Vivid Housing Association.
Latham & Watkins – John Guccione is joining the global law firm’s infrastructure practice in London as a partner in the corporate department. Guccione joins the firm from OMERS Infrastructure, where he was MD, legal. Over the last decade, Guccione has overseen transactions pursued in Europe for OMERS. Prior to joining OMERS, Guccione was a member of the energy and infrastructure group at Linklaters in London and the corporate group at Torys in Toronto.
Urbeo Group – Eileen Fitzpatrick, former head of NewERA at the National Treasury Management Agency, has joined chairman Kevin Murphy on the board of the rental housing investor as a non-executive director. Fitzpatrick previously worked as CEO at AIBIM between 2000 and 2006 and has held a number of senior investment and stockbroking roles at AIBIM, Goodbody Stockbrokers and NCB. She currently holds several other non-executive director roles, including with Bank of Ireland and KKR Ireland.
Dune Real Estate Partners – The New York-based real estate investment firm has appointed Aaron Greeno as its head of west coast region. In this newly created position, Greeno will be responsible for originating and evaluating new investment opportunities, executing on value creation strategies and continuing to build and oversee Dune’s business on the west coast. Greeno has also been named a partner and member of Dune’s investment committee. Greeno joins from Morgan Stanley, where he was co-head of US investments for the firm’s real estate investing group. In his 13 years at Morgan Stanley, he held a variety of roles with experience across capital structures in both public and private markets. Greeno began his career in New York as an associate in real estate investment banking group, before moving to the principal side of the business in 2008 and relocating to Los Angeles in 2014. He is a member of ULI, NAIOP, and serves on the board of the UCLA Ziman Center for Real Estate.
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