Mellum Capital, Colliers International, Urban Partners, Mohr Partners, La Française Real Estate Managers, Euryale, Gurner Group, Pioneer Point Partners, Aventon Companies, Banner Real Estate, Brennan Investment, Eastdil Secured, Cushman & Wakefield, KBI Global Investors, CBRE, Barings, Ares
Verne – A William Stein, former CEO of Digital Realty Trust, has been appointed as chair of Verne’s board of directors. With more than three decades of executive leadership experience spanning diverse industries and roles, Stein currently advises private companies and investment funds specialising in digital infrastructure and energy. He currently serves as CIO and executive managing director at Primary Digital Infrastructure. He was CEO of Digital Realty Trust from 2014 to 2022. A co-founder of Digital Realty in 2004, he also served as CFO and CIO. Prior to Digital Realty, Stein played pivotal roles at GI Partners as at PNC Financial Services, TriNet Corporate Realty Trust, Westinghouse Electric and Duquesne Light Company.
Barings – Joel Pecoy has joined to lead the firm’s $25bn US real estate debt asset management. Pecoy most recently served as head of real estate debt asset management at Ares. Prior to Ares, Pecoy served as head of debt asset management at UC Funds and as finance and acquisitions manager at Colony Hills Capital.
Urban Partners – Carl-Adam von Schéele, head of Sweden for Nrep; Lesley Lanefelt, head of Nordic investments at Velo Capital, and Sanna Gurevich-Weiß, fund manager and COO at Velo Capital have been promoted to partners.
KBI Global Investors – Craig Bonthron has been appointed senior portfolio manager of natural resources equity strategies. Bonthron was a portfolio manager on the firm’s water strategy from 2008 to 2010 and worked across the alternative energy, climate change and agribusiness strategies during that period. He was most recently with Artemis Investment Management as part of the impact equities team, and for the previous six years was an Investment manager with Kames Capita. In the three years before that, Bonthron held investment manager and investment director positions with Scottish Widows Investment Partnership.
Mellum Capital – Tim Schulze Buxloh joined Mellum Real Estate GmbH as partner and managing director of the new subsidiary. Buxloh spent eight years at Colliers International in Munich as senior director responsible for the brokerage of developments, single assets and portfolios and maintains longstanding relationships with project developers, institutional investors and German family offices.
CBRE – Carl Deppisch has been appointed head of occupier for the firm’s European industrial and logistics business. In his new role, Deppisch will be responsible for developing and executing CBRE’s I&L occupier growth strategy, ensuring both existing and new clients benefit from the full spectrum of CBRE’s capabilities. He joins from logistics and transport giant Kuehne + Nagel where he has held a number of senior international roles in operations management and solution design and most recently, served as SVP of global real estate. Prior to this, Deppisch spent six years with consulting firm, Accenture, in their supply chain practice. Deppisch joins CBRE in February and will be based in Zurich.
Eastdil Secured – David Dorros has joined the global real estate investment bank as MD. He will be based in Washington, DC, and will focus exclusively on loan sales, short sales and other lender-driven transactions as a member of the firm’s global debt platform. Dorros most recently spent seven years as vice-chairman of Cushman & Wakefield’s capital markets group. Prior to his time at Cushman & Wakefield, he founded and led CBRE’s national loan and portfolio sales group. Dorros also served as an adviser to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation during the global financial crisis.
La Française Real Estate Managers – Astrid Bonduelle has been appointed investment manager within the firm’s healthcare division. Bonduelle will be responsible for analysing and assessing real estate investment opportunities in the healthcare sector. She began in 2020 at Groupama Gan REIM as an investment analyst, also supporting real estate portfolio management. She then joined the real estate management company Euryale.
Gurner Group – Peter Crinis has been appointed group chief operating officer of hospitality. Crinis was the former CEO of Crown Sydney and Crown Hotels. His appointment is described as the “last remaining piece of that puzzle” in Gurner Group’s strategy to move into high-end hospitality business and in preparation for the launch of a hotel fund next year. He is the fifth executive recruited from the Blackstone-owned Crown Resorts.
Mohr Partners – Corey Horowitz has joined the firm as managing partner in its New York office. Prior to joining Mohr Partners, Horowitz served as an executive MD with Vestian. Horowitz also worked in director roles at Lee & Associates and Cushman & Wakefield. He started his commercial real estate career with Newmark Knight Frank.
Bluevía – Carlos Posa has been appointed CEO to replace Luis Rivera. Rivera will continue to be linked to the Telefónica Group in other positions of responsibility.
Brennan Investment – The US real estate investment firm has promoted Luke McCarthy to SVP within its national single-tenant net-lease platform. McCarthy began his career at Brennan as an intern in acquisitions and progressed to roles as analyst, associate, senior associate, and VP. In his new role as SVP, McCarthy will continue to lead the sourcing of single-tenant net-lease investments and sale leasebacks across the US and will also oversee the asset management and monetisation of these investments.
Wildstone – Stuart Smith has been appointed CFO. Smith joins from Entain, where he held a number of senior finance positions.
Newmark – Luca de Ambrosis Ortigara has been appointed as a consultant to the firm’s luxury and premium retail team. Ortigara founded DEA Real Estate Advisors in Milan in 2003. He was also previously partner and MD of McArthurGlen, where he oversaw the development of Italy’s first luxury outlet centres.
Pioneer Point Partners — Leif Zierz, Ole Hvelplund and Michele Appendino have been appointed to the infrastructure investment firm’s advisory board. Zierz has experience in M&A and restructuring for companies in the energy sector, most recently as managing partner and global head of deal advisory at KPMG. Zierz was a partner at KPMG for 24 years. Zierz will support Pioneer as a senior adviser with his expertise, focusing on energy M&A and strategic advisory, particularly in the German market. Hvelplund was until recently the CEO of previous Pioneer portfolio company Nature Energy. Hvelplund joined Nature Energy as CEO in 2013. Hvelplund brings with him decades of experience in the circular economy sectors which are where his focus will be with Pioneer going forward. He has also joined the board of Pioneer portfolio company Seras. Known to Pioneer for decades, Appendino is the controlling shareholder of European solar developer Solar Ventures which was a key partner for previous Pioneer portfolio company Sistema Rinnovabili. Appendino brings with him decades of experience as an investor and executive in the European energy-transition sectors which are where his focus will be with Pioneer.
Aventon Companies —Tom Suminski will join the US multi-family developer and general contractor’s team as senior MD of development, based in Orlando, Florida. Suminski will focus on enhancing Aventon Companies’ growing presence within the region, overseeing ongoing development while pursuing new opportunities. Suminski comes from Banner Real Estate where hs served for 18 years and ultimately led multifamily development activities throughout the Southeast.
