Heimstaden, Rhonda Gass, Alvarez & Marsal Property Advisors, Kushner Companies, Greystone Real Estate Capital, Cushman & Wakefield, Manulife US REM, DWS, JLL, CBRE IM, AltamarCAM, AREF, Birchwood Real Estate Capital

Heimstaden – Christian Fladeland has been appointed co-CEO alongside Helge Krogsbøl. Fladeland will oversee investments, corporate finance, and capital raising, while Krogsbøl will lead the management team, group operations, and the country organisations. He joined in 2019 as CIO. Prior to that, he worked at commercial real estate firm Sadolin & Albæk for over 10 years until 2018 when he joined Colliers international.  

Manulife US Real Estate Management – The manager of Manulife US Real Estate Investment Trust has appointed John Casasante to the dual role of CEO and CIO, subject to regulatory approval. Mushtaque Ali will be appointed as CFO. Casasante joins from DWS, where he served as the regional director, real estate asset management alternatives and real estate assets, responsible for the Western US real estate portfolio. He brings over 25 years of commercial real estate experience with DWS, Cushman & Wakefield, and Lincoln Property Company. Casasante will join the team as CEO and CIO designate on 8 April 2024. Ali will assume the responsibilities formerly overseen by Caroline Fong as deputy CEO and Robert Wong as CFO. Ali will join the team on 12 April 2024 as CFO designate, and the effective date of his appointment as CFO will be 30 June 2024. Ali was previously, head of finance, Singapore and Southeast Asia at Manulife Investment Management. Before relocating to Singapore from Canada, Ali served in global leadership roles within Manulife Investment Management’s private markets business, including as the head of fund and asset management finance and as head of private assets financial reporting and advisory focusing on real estate, infrastructure, and other private asset classes.

CBRE Investment Management – Rocio Oriol has been appointed senior director, private infrastructure investments in the firm’s global indirect private infrastructure team. Oriol will have responsibility for sourcing, due diligence, closing and managing global indirect infrastructure investments for CBRE IM’s indirect business. She will lead the screening and evaluation of new fund, co-investment, secondary and minority direct investment opportunities to determine suitability for CBRE IM infrastructure mandates. This will be in addition to managing the performance of CBRE IM’s existing portfolios, working closely with investment partners to achieve superior risk adjusted performance. Oriol joins from AltamarCAM Partners, where she was a founding member of the firm’s infrastructure team. Prior to this, Oriol worked at Infracapital where she originated and executed direct investments in core and core plus infrastructure.

Aviva Investors – Phillipa Grant, Elizabeth Ortiz and Jeremy Ho have joined the global asset manager’s responsible investment team within its real assets. Grant joins as director of sustainable investments, whilst Ortiz has been appointed as an associate, and Ho as an analyst. Grant joins Aviva Investors following eight years at AESG, where she was a partner and global director of sustainability. In her new role, Grant will be responsible for delivering sustainability outcomes for clients across Aviva Investors’ real assets sustainable fund range, providing advice to support with strategy development and investment decisions, alongside delivery and reporting within portfolios. Ortiz joins from KPMG where she was an assistant manager, leading on climate strategy development for corporate clients. In her role at Aviva Investors, she will focus on developing and delivering client sustainability objectives across private markets asset classes. Ho will be responsible for delivering sustainability research and due diligence for the growing private lending business at Aviva Investors. He joins having previously worked at Pyxis Wealth Advisors and proSapient where he carried out cross-asset class research for hedge fund, private equity and ultra-high net worth family clients.

WP Carey – Rhonda Gass has been appointed to the firm’s board of directors. In her current role as global CIO at Stanley Black & Decker, Gass is responsible for driving a strategic agenda to equip the company’s businesses with the digital, data and collaboration capabilities required to grow in the global marketplace. She also leads cybersecurity and digital risk management for all technologies across the company. Prior to Stanley Black & Decker, she was a VP at Dell. 

Greystone Real Estate Capital – Mike Callahan has been appointed SVP, director of investment management; Benjamin Jarvis has been appointed SVP, developer production; Michael Egidi has been appointed VP of investor production; and Spencer Gordon has been appointed VP, director of credit and underwriting. Callahan previously spent 28 years with Boston Capital serving as the director of asset management and was a member of the investment, disposition, and management committees. Jarvis has over 19 years of multifamily affordable housing experience in originating, structuring, negotiating and closing low income housing tax credit transactions nationwide. Prior to joining Greystone, Jarvis served as director of acquisitions for Redstone Equity Partners. Prior to that role, Jarvis served as VP of acquisitions at Boston Capital. Egidi, with over 15 years of affordable housing industry experience, is responsible for asset selection, fund placement, structuring, marketing, and management of institutional investor relationships for Greystone Real Estate Capital. Prior to joining Greystone, he was a VP of investor relations with WNC & Associates in its tax credit syndication business. Prior to joining WNC, he spent over 10 years in varying roles in the community finance group with Capital One Financial Corporation. Gordon joins Greystone from PNC Bank, NA where he was a senior underwriting manager, VP in the tax credit solutions business. Prior to joining PNC, Gordon was an assistant VP, account manager with Boston Financial. While there, he also served as a VP, capital officer.

AREF – The association of real estate funds has appointed Anne Breen, the global head of real estate at Abrdn as its new chair. Breen replaces Adrian Benedict, Fidelity’s head of real estate solutions, who has been chair since 2020. Breen has spent her 25-year career at Abrdn holding a number of senior roles, starting with her leadership of global investment research and strategy in real estate at the firm, and being appointed global head of real estate in 2023. She has been a member of AREF’s board since 2020 – which is responsible for the strategic direction of the association. 

Cushman & Wakefield – Jennifer McPeek and Raj Vennam have been appointed to the firm’s board of directors. McPeek previously served as CFO of Russell Investments, and prior to that, McPeek held various roles at Janus Henderson Investors, including the roles of chief operating and strategy officer and CFO. She’s also held leadership roles at ING Investment Management and McKinsey & Company. McPeek currently serves on the board of directors of Cboe Global Markets and on the board of trustees of First American Funds Trust. Vennam currently serves as SVP, CFO of Darden Restaurants, and prior to that, held additional leadership roles at Darden including SVP, corporate finance and treasurer and SVP, finance and analytics. Prior to Darden, he served as VP, financial planning and analysis and investor relations for The Fresh Market.

JLL – Hisao Uenishi has been appointed to lead the Osaka hotels and hospitality investment sales team at JLL’s newly created dedicated hotels services, based in Osaka. Uenishi, a senior vice president, also has oversight for the firm’s West Japan operations. Prior to joining JLL, Uenishi served as executive director at Westmont Japan Investments KK, where he was responsible for deal sourcing and acquisition, disposition and asset management for Westmont’s hotel portfolio in Japan. Kuniko Tsushima will lead advisory and asset management services in Osaka and West Japan. Prior to joining JLL, Tsushima served as regional director at IDeaS. He also has more than 15 years of experience in the hotel industry including working for Marriott and IHG in commercial roles both domestically and on international assignments.

Birchwood Real Estate Capital – Former Almacantar COO Matthew Filkin has joined Birchwood Real Estate Capital as managing director, fund and asset management. 

Alvarez & Marsal Property Solutions – Max Swerdloff has joined the full-service US commercial real estate advisory firm to its Manhattan-based leasing team. In his previous role, Swerdloff oversaw the leasing and management of retail space across New York, New Jersey, and South Florida for Kushner Companies.

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