People moves: Legh joins Avignon; Trimont makes four new hires for EMEA

Trimont, Situs, Medici Living, Selina, Cohen & Steers, T Rowe Price, Allianz Real Estate, BofA, JCRA, MSCI, Avignon Capital, Texton Property, ATP, Industriens Pension, Bouwinvest, Royal Schiphol Group, Rabo Real Estate, Admiral Capital, Harbor Road Holdings

Avignon Capital – The European property investment and asset management firm has appointed Stephanie Legh as asset manager. Based in the UK, Legh will work as part of Avignon’s asset management team, primarily focusing on the UK portfolio and implementing asset management initiatives. Prior to joining Avignon, Legh spent 3 years as an asset manager at Texton Property.

Trimont Real Estate Advisors – The company has appointed Michael Delaney, Chris Burrell and Miles Roper asset management directors and Martin Toal as associate director of asset management. Delaney spent the last five years at Situs, most recently as director of asset management. Prior to that, he spent nine years as associate director, real estate equity at Hunt Investment Management in London. Burrell will be primarily responsible for managing a portfolio of complex debt and equity investments on a variety of property types. He hails from Situs where he spent almost four years on the loan asset management team, first as an associate before being promoted to assistant vice president and, subsequently, vice president. Roper has been with Situs since 2013, most recently as vice president, loan asset management. Prior to Situs, he worked at Irish Bank Resolution Corporation and Morgan Stanley in London. Toal will manage a portfolio of complex CRE loans. He joins Trimont from Situs where he served as assistant vice president for five years. Before that, he was a relationship manager at Bank of Ireland. The new hires will join the Trimont team in London. 

Admiral Capital Group – James Maher Jr, formerly of BlackRock and most recently Harbor Road Holdings, has joined the $1.7bn investment management firm as a principal. Maher Jr will primarily be responsible for investments across the firm’s value-add real estate platform. Maher Jr worked at BlackRock for 13 years and left the firm in 2014 as a director on the real estate equity team in New York City. After his time at BlackRock, he co-founded Harbor Road Holdings, a privately-held real estate investment company. He currently serves on the board of South Bronx Classical Charter Schools. Maher Jr also serves as a member of the Prep for Prep Associates Council. He will be based out of Admiral’s New York City office.

Cohen & Steers – Paul Zettl has joined investment manager as senior vice president, head of global marketing and chief marketing officer. Zettl will lead strategic marketing initiatives for all client channels and platforms worldwide. Zettl joins from T. Rowe Price, where he most recently served as group vice president, head of product marketing and offer management.

MSCI – Head of EMEA analytics client coverage René Veerman will expand his role and assume leadership of the real estate client coverage team in EMEA. Previously, Veerman was global index provider’s head of analytics product in APAC and country manager for Hong Kong and Taiwan.

ATP – The real estate arm of Denmark’s biggest pension fund has appointed Kenneth Olsson as its first CIO — a newly-created role within the Copenhagen-based unit ATP Real Estate. Olsson currently works as real estate investment manager for Danish labour-market pension fund Industriens Pension, but previously worked for ATP Real Estate for many years as portfolio manager and deputy director — from 2003 to 2018.

Bouwinvest Real Estate Investors – The €11bn Dutch property investor has appointed Jos Nijhuis as chairman and Jos van Lange to a newly created board. Nijhuis was CEO of Royal Schiphol Group from 2009 until 2018. Prior to joining Schiphol, Nijhuis held various positions at PWC, serving as CEO Netherlands for the last seven years of this period. Van Lange will chair the audit and risk committee within the supervisory board. Between 1980 and 2017 he held various positions at Rabobank Nederland and Rabo Real Estate Group. During his last years at Rabo Real Estate Group, he held the role of CFRO from 2006 until 2013, and was CEO from 2013 until 2017. Bouwinvest said it expects to announce the two other supervisory board members in due course.

Allianz Real Estate – The manager has appointed Kari Pitkin as head of business development across Europe. Shripal Shah has been appointed head of debt origination in new London office to lead the team serving the UK and pan-European clients. Pitkin joins from BofA where she held the position of head of EMEA real estate and lodging, having joined the firm in 2005. Since 2002 Shah covered senior positions in international real estate banking at Barclays Bank and HSBC before joining JCRA, where he has been head of real estate since 2016.

Medici Living – Renata Kusznierska has joined the co-living provider a  director to lead the firm’s expansion in Poland. Kusznierska will spearhead the group’s expansion and roll-out of the Quarters co-living brand in the region. Kusznierska, joins Medici from lifestyle, travel and hospitality platform Selina where she most recently held the position of head of country. Between 2013 and 2017 she worked at Cushman & Wakefield, most recently as partner and head of retail agency Poland.