People moves: Thornton to leave Swiss Life Asset Managers UK

Swiss Life Asset Managers UK, Reax Advisory, Leeward Renewable Energy, EnLink Midstream, Northland Power, S2 Capital, Fusion Group, Oxenwood Real Estate, Arkus Real Estate, Leste, Cushman & Wakefield, JLL, LXi REIT, Investa, LondonMetric Property, North Wind Capital, GPT Group, Segro, St Modwen Logistics

Swiss Life Asset Managers UK – Chairman and former CEO, James Thornton will stand down as of 30 April 2024 and leave the business. Thornton co-founded the business, originally Mayfair Capital Investment Management, in 2002 and oversaw its sale to Swiss Life Asset Managers in 2016. Swiss Life expects to announce a successor for the chairman role in due course.

S2 Capital – The US multifamily real estate investment manager has appointed Michael Bippus as VP in charge of acquisitions for Southeast markets. Bippus will lead acquisitions for the firm’s multifamily investments in high-growth markets in Tennessee, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Florida. S2 also announced it has hired Will Foster as a senior associate to support the Southeast investments team, with a focus on the Tennessee, Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina markets. Bippus most recently served as acquisitions MD for Waypoint Residential. Prior to that, he served as acquisitions VP for Harbor Group International and Berkshire Property Advisors. Foster is based in Charlotte, North Carolina. He joins S2 with more than four years of transaction experience, which he developed at global real estate investment bank, Eastdil Secured, as an associate on the multifamily team. 

Leeward Renewable Energy – Nate Graham has been appointed chief technology officer. In the newly created role, Graham will be responsible for all aspects of enterprise-wide IT operations, including architecture, development, and infrastructure and for ensuring seamless alignment between the firm’s technology roadmap and strategic objectives. He will also oversee the utilisation of emerging corporate technologies and systems to enhance the Company’s business model, drive growth, and mitigate risk. He will serve on the firm’s senior leadership team. Before joining Leeward, Graham served as VP of IT and CIO at EnLink Midstream. During his 23-year career, he served as chief information security officer at Enable Midstream Partners and held senior leadership roles at ConocoPhillips and Devon Energy. Graham began his career in the US Army before moving to the civilian sector, where he worked as a network and telecommunications technician.

Northland Power – The firm’s president and CEO Mike Crawley is to step down after leading the company for the past six years. Crawley will remain with Northland until 30 September 2024. John Brace, chair of the board of directors, has been appointed executive chair and will act as a bridge between Crawley and the next president & CEO as part of the transition. Ian Pearce, chair of the governance and nominating committee, has been appointed lead independent director. After the appointment of a new president & CEO, Brace is expected to return to his position as non-executive board chair and Pearce will remain as lead independent director.

CBRE – Julie Ennis has been appointed head of UK occupier. Ennis will be responsible for leading CBRE’s occupier strategies to drive continued growth across all aspects of its occupier business in the UK. Ennis joins CBRE with over 25 years of experience in the banking and property services industries. She spent more than 20 years at the Bank of Ireland, where she held progressive leadership positions spanning sales, product & proposition development, strategy and operations across retail banking, corporate banking and wealth management advisory. She has been at Sodexo since 2019, serving as CEO of its €700m corporate services and energy & resources segments for the UK & Ireland.

Cushman & Wakefield – Noral Wild, has joined the firm from JLL, to head the business in Australia and New Zealand, and Natalie Craig takes on the newly-created role of CEO, Singapore. Wild was the head of alternatives at JLL for 12 years and before that she ran her own construction company for a decade. Natalie Craig, who moved up from her current position as managing director C&W Service, has extensive experience in commercial real estate. Prior to joining Cushman & Wakefield she held leadership positions at CBRE, Macquarie Bank and Minter Ellison. Anshul Jain will continue to lead the Singapore CRE business in addition to his roles as chief executive of India and Southeast Asia and head of APAC tenant representation.

Oxygen – The London-based asset and investment management firm has appointed Amber Luscombe as head of ESG, to ensure that environment, social issues and corporate governance are the focus of its strategy and the portfolio of properties within the business.

Fusion Group – The UK student accommodation developer and operator has appointed Laura Kurt as its first ever commercial director. Kurt will be responsible for developing Fusion’s product offering, including the operations and asset management of its developments. Kurt will continue to lead on the social sustainability strategy at Fusion, as well as manage marketing and lettings. Kurt has worked with Fusion Group since February 2019, heading its marketing efforts and leading on initiatives such as the development of its ESG strategy. She has previously advised businesses on strategic positioning via the digital marketing consultancy she co-founded, Loaded Hype, as well as through a variety of brand, marketing and communications roles for companies including Vita Student and property auctioneer Pugh and Company.

Downing Property Finance – Doug Bowley has been appointed investment manager. Bowley will be responsible for new business origination via his developer and broker network, leading the deal process from enquiry stage through to completion. Bowley joins following a two-year tenure at Hilltop Credit Partners, where he worked within a debt fund specialising in pan-European real estate credit opportunities. Previously, Bowley honed his expertise during a five-year stint as business development manager with Octopus Real Estate’s lending team.

North Wind Capital – Clive Bull has been appointed director of the firm’s Luxembourg lending and securitisation vehicle. Bull has spent a 35-year career in real estate finance including 16 years in Deutsche Bank’s commercial real estate group where he served until the end of 2021. Prior to his tenure at Deutsche he spent seven years at JP Morgan, initially in New York for three years in the non-conduit CMBS team before moving to London to run the bank’s structured finance business in its European commercial mortgage group. His early career included stints at Smith Barney and PaineWebber.

Reax Advisory – Annika Dylong and Kai Nelson Dreisigacker have been appointed managing directors of the consulting business spun out of IntReal International Real Estate. Dylong is responsible for expert consulting on subjects like ESG, reporting and risk management, which she already handled while at Intreal Solutions before the company outsourced them to Reax Advisory. Dylong previously served as head of consulting and services at Intreal Solutions, and headed the risk management, outsourcing management and process management units at Intreal for the past 15 years. Dreisigacker’s main responsibility is to head the recently introduced management consulting business. Dreisigacker became head of organisational development at Intreal in September 2022. He previously worked for Porsche Consulting between 2015 and 2022, eventually as senior manager financial services.

PREA – The pension real esate association has announced its 2024-25 board of directors comprising Kimberly Adams of Clarion Partners; GID’s W Jeffrey Beckham; Sarah Cachat of The Townsend Group; Christy Fields of Meketa Investment; Julie Donegan of California State Teachers Retirement System; GIC Real Estate’s Adam Gallistel; Jeff Giller of StepStone; John Gluszak of New York City Retirement Systems and Office of the Comptroller; Callan’s Sally Haskins; Drew Ierardi of Exelon Corporation; and Barbara Jesuele of the The J Paul Getty Trust. The remaining board directors include Cia Buckley Marakovits of Dune Real Estate Partners; Catherine Marcus of PGIM; Adam Schwartz of TPG Angelo Gordon; Jennifer Stevens of Alliance Global Advisors; and Grant Walker of Teacher Retirement System of Texas. The appointed officers during the period include Anar Chudgar of Artemis Real Estate Partners as chair; Ivanhoé Cambridge’s Isabelle Martin as vice-chair; Harrison Street’s Christopher Merrill as treasurer; and Danita Johnson of Maryland State Retirement and Pension System as secretary. Manuel Casanga of the New York State Common Fund is the immediate past chair.

British Land – Amanda James has been appointed non-executive director, with effect from 1 July 2024. James will join the audit committee of British Land on appointment. She is currently the CFO of fashion retailer NEXT PLC, having joined the NEXT finance team over 28 years ago.  

INREV – The European real estate investor association is searching for a new CEO after announcing that Lonneke Löwik will be stepping down from the role in August. Prior to becoming INREV CEO in 2017, Löwik was head of operations at real assets sustainability benchmark GRESB and before that helped launch the Global Infrastructure Investor Association. Löwik’s CEO appointment marked a return for her, having worked at INREV between 2009 and 2014 as director of research and market information, and then director of professional standards.

LondonMetric Property – Sandy Gumm has been appointed as a non-executive director. Gumm was most recently a non-executive director of LXi REIT and, prior to that, a non-executive director of Secure Income REIT.  She was COO of, and a shareholder in, Prestbury Investment Partners.

GPT Group – Merran Edwards will join the firm as CFO to take up the role left by Anastasia Clark who moved to a similar position at Charter Hall last year. Edwards will join GPT from Investa where she has been the head of investment management and CFO. She has more than 20 years’ experience in real estate, finance and investment banking and has held various real estate and corporate advisory roles, including as CFO at AMP Capital Real Estate. She had previously held roles at UBS in the Investment Banking division and at KPMG in transaction services 

St Modwen Logistics – The UK logistics manager has appointed Adam Haley as director in its portfolio and asset management team. Haley, who has over 15 years industrial and logistics experience, joins St Modwen Logistics from Segro, where he was responsible for the management of the firm’s national markets portfolio. Haley will work with Gordon Kellie, head of portfolio, to improve and expand the company’s customer relationships and ensure their requirements are met through the development and acquisition of best-in-class sustainable warehousing.

Leste Group – Mark Hong and Haaris Lali have been appointed to help expand the firm’s net lease and credit strategies. Hong, who has been named partner, net lease, will work to expand the client base for Leste’s triple net lease strategy, a private credit strategy focused on commercial real estate assets. Hong was most recently EVP and CIO at MS Transverse Insurance. Prior to that, he was a MD at Clearbrook for more than 10 years. Earlier in his career, he was an analyst for Prudential Financial’s asset management division. Lali, MD of real estate credit, Lali will focus primarily on strategic and global business development for Leste Credit Opportunity Fund. He was previously MD at Stabilis Capital Management. Before that, Lali was head of global strategy and business development for NewSmith Capital. He also held multiple roles at The Carlyle Group, The Rock Creek Group, and Rock Maple Funds.

Arkus Real Estate – The newly launched UK real estate investment and development company established by former Oxenwood co-founder, Jeremy Bishop has appointed Ashley Harris to be responsible for asset management and leasing, as well as assisting with acquisitions and developments. Harris joins from Oxenwood Real Estate where she was responsible for manageing a portfolio of core plus, value-add and opportunistic logistics assets. Before Oxenwood, Harris spent four years on the property team at the Universities Superannuation Scheme. Sebastian Gray has also joined as an investment analyst and is responsible for underwriting acquisitions and sourcing assets. Prior to Arkus, Gray worked at Monta Capital where he was responsible for acquisition and development underwriting across a mixture of long and short income assets.