Bell Partners, ULI, Downing Renewables & Infrastructure Trust, Downing Renewables & Infrastructure Trust, Hearthstone Investments, The Hill Group, CBRE, Knight Frank, AEW, Jupiter Asset Management, TIME Investments, WP Carey, LaSalle IM, Travis Perkins, Sparkfund, Silverstein Properties, Tishman Speyer
LaSalle Investment Management – Kyle Dupree has been promoted to head of asset management and Pat Pelling to head of transactions. Both are long-time LaSalle veterans who will report to Americas head Brad Gries. Dupree, who joined the firm in 2010, will be responsible for leading asset management initiatives and processes across various property sectors. He also provides strategic leadership for digital enterprise applications and spearheads the valuation process for US private equity. Pelling succeeds Gries as head of transactions. Pelling was most recently a key leader with the transactions group – sourcing, underwriting, and executing new investments. He has also served as a thought leader, driving new, strategic investment initiatives, programmatic partnerships and cultivating key relationships.
WP Carey – John Park will step down as president of the company effective 30 September 2024. Park will serve as senior advisor to the company through February 2025 and will continue to serve as a trustee of Net Lease Office Properties and the WP Carey Foundation. The separate role of president will be eliminated, and the title will be assumed by Jason Fox, the company’s CEO. Park joined WP Carey in 1987, working alongside Founder William Polk Carey in various roles of increasing responsibility.
CBRE – Gunjan Soni, a senior executive, has been appointed to the company’s board of directors. Soni is CEO of Zalora, a fashion e-commerce platform in Southeast Asia, and chief operating officer of its parent Global Fashion Group. Before joining Zalora, Soni was an executive officer at companies in India and Singapore and a partner at McKinsey & Company. She brings over 20 years of experience in technology, strategy and the Asian business landscape, starting her career as a software engineer. Lisa Bevacqua will join the company as senior MD, investor portfolio management. Bevacqua will be responsible for the strategic partnership and account, Brookfield Properties operated by CBRE, leading a team of nearly 900 real estate professionals. She will be part of CBRE’s new property management offering—investor portfolio management — which serves property owners at the portfolio level. Bevacqua joins CBRE from Silverstein Properties, where she was EVP and head of asset management. Her previous experience includes roles in acquisitions and asset management at Citi Property Investors and as a leasing broker with the CB Richard Ellis/Whittier Partners joint venture.
Tishman Speyer – Amit Rustgi has joined the firm as credit strategies MD. In this newly-created role, Rustgi will lead originations within Tishman Speyer’s new debt platform. He will focus on commercial real estate loans tied to institutional quality residential, industrial, life science, office and other mixed-use projects and portfolios across US top cities. Rustgi joins Tishman Speyer from PIMCO, where he was a VP and portfolio manager focused on investments. Prior to PIMCO, Rustgi spent eight years at Brookfield Asset Management, where he worked in high-yield debt origination, underwriting and asset management. Earlier in his career, he worked for Spring 11, Moody’s Corporation and Trimont Real Estate Advisors.
AEW – Sebastian Iwanski thas been promoted to head of asset management Germany. In his new role Iwanski is responsible for leading the asset management of a portfolio of more than 969,000sqm of offices, retail and residential assets in Germany. Reporting to AEW’s newly appointed head of Germany and Central & Eastern Europe Christina Ofschonka, and based in Düsseldorf, Iwanski is responsible for overseeing the delivery of asset management strategies across AEW’s funds and mandates with the aim of driving performance. Iwanski has over 15 years’ experience in real estate asset management and joined AEW’s asset management team in 2016 to manage several portfolios of office and retail properties in Germany. He was promoted to the role of head of asset management retail Germany in March 2023 with responsibility for AEW’s retail portfolio in the country. Before joining AEW, he was a member of the asset management team at Unibail-Rodamco.
Travis Perkins – Pete Redfern has been appointed as a director of the company and CEO with effect from 16 September 2024. Redfern succeeds Nick Roberts, who will step down as CEO and from the board on the same day. Redfern brings over two decades of leadership, operational and finance experience in the construction sector, including 14 years as CEO of Taylor Wimpey until 2022. Geoff Drabble has been appointed non-executive director with effect from 1 October 2024. He has also been appointed chair designate from the same date and will take up the position of chair as soon as his capacity allows. Drabble is chair of listed building materials distributor Ferguson. He is also currently chair of DS Smith. He was a non-executive director of Howden Joinery from 2015 to 2023, serving latterly as its senior independent director. In his executive career, Drabble was group CEO of Ashtead Group from 2006 to 2019 and previously held senior executive positions in Laird Group and Black and Decker.
Bell Partners – Kate Byford has joined the company as chief administrative officer, and Lisa Tully-Lavian has joined the company as SVP, customer experience. Both roles are new positions created as part of the company’s updated strategic plan to support its continued growth. Byford’s responsibilities include oversight of the company’s human resources, information technology, procurement and ESG initiatives. Byford has over 20 years of experience in the multifamily industry, including the past seven years at Capital One where she last served as managing vice president: head of multifamily agency finance. Byford was at Freddie Mac for 10 years, where she last served as senior director: multifamily capital markets, head of pricing. Tully-Lavian’s responsibilities include overseeing the development and implementation of systems and processes to support a differentiated customer experience, leading efforts related to Bell’s insights into its current and prospective customers, and overseeing the company’s marketing initiatives. Tully-Lavian brings over 20 years of experience in lifestyle and brand marketing, digital media and data analysis to her new role. She was most recently chief marketing officer at Sentral, and was EVP, marketing at hospitality investment and management company Highgate. Her experience also includes senior marketing roles with American Express and in the luxury hotel sector.
Downing Renewables & Infrastructure Trust – Astrid Skarheim Onsum has been appointed non-executive director and member of the audit and risk, management engagement, nomination and remuneration committees. Onsum is currently a non-executive director of SGX-listed global maritime technology and construction group Seatrium, where she serves on the audit and risk committee. Additionally, Onsum is a non-executive director of Epiroc AB Sweden, where she sits on the audit committee. Onsum also serves on the board of Spoor Norway and is a member of the advisory board of Airloom Energy. Onsum has held several key leadership positions within the Aker ASA. She has also served as CEO of NG Group and chair of Nordic Unmanned.
Hearthstone Investments – Antonia Haralambous has been appointed strategy and research manager. Haralambous joins Hearthstone after six years at Knight Frank, most recently as a research associate, covering both commercial and residential property across a range of European markets.
ULI – Ariana Maass of Berlin Hyp has been appointed as the next chair of the ULI Europe young leaders group, which represents members under the age of 35. Maass officially commenced a two-year term on 1 July 2024 and will serve on a voluntary basis. She succeeds Thibault Weston Smith, co-founder, Crayon Partners. Maass joined ULI in 2021, and for the past two years has been a member of the ULI Europe young leaders executive committee as well as a young leaders co-chair for the Berlin-based group.
TIME Investments – Chris Johns has been appointed business development director for funds. Johns has joined from Jupiter Asset Management and has a long track record in business development and strategic partnerships. At TIME, he will coordinate and promote the TIME Investments suite of defensive open-ended funds across the UK marketplace.
The Hill Group – Cain Peters has been promoted to managing director in charge of special projects, which specialises in large high density construction projects. Peters, who began his journey with Hill as a site manager 17 years ago, will leverage his extensive experience managing this region, which includes key joint venture partnerships and has become a major pillar of Hill’s recent success. Since 2015, in his role as regional director, Peters has worked with the special projects region.
Sparkfund – Sarah Spencer-Workman has been named EVP of customer solutions. Chenoa Warner and Nicholas Mart have been named VP of talent & culture and director of programme commercialisation, respectively. Spencer-Workman has more than seventeen years of experience in the energy and sustainability sector. She previously worked as senior global director of decarbonisation at CBRE. As the former head of people operations and business operations at Carbon Lighthouse, Warner brings valuable experience in building teams focused on decarbonising the built environment and fostering inclusive, diverse, and engaging work environments. Mart has a decade-long tenure in program management and engineering at Exelon companies PECO and Pepco Holdings.
