Bell Partners, First Key Homes, KGAL, TPQ, EQT, Puma Property Finance, Leumi UK, CenterSquare Investment Management, PGGM, Swiss Life AM, CREFC Europe, ULI, Shorea Capital, Longmead Capital, Oxford Properties, HOOPP, Railpen, AEW Europe, Hammerson, Region Group, Link REIT, IREMIS, Maya Capital, MLP Group, McKinsey & Company, Colby River, Partners Group, Stena Line, Harwich Haven Authority, Harworth Group, AlbaCore Capital, UBS AM, Proxity, Patrizia, Savills, Antin, CVC Capital Partners, BGO

TPGJuan Diego Vargas has been appointed partner, serving as a senior member of the TPG Rise climate transition infrastructure team, effective today. Vargas will play a key role in expanding the firm’s value-add infrastructure strategy, which focuses on growing and scaling businesses and assets in essential subsectors and geographies across the climate ecosystem. He is based in New York. Vargas brings to TPG nearly 20 years of experience investing in energy and infrastructure. Most recently, he served as a partner on EQT’s infrastructure team. Prior to EQT, he served as a director at First Reserve. Vargas began his career as an analyst at Morgan Stanley in its financial sponsors and Latin America Groups.

CenterSquare Investment ManagementWerner Sohier has been appointed senior global real estate executive to the firm’s advisory board. He most recently served as a senior director at PGGM, where he was instrumental in managing global listed and private real estate for the Dutch pension fund asset management firm.

Antin Infrastructure PartnersWalid Damou has been appointed group CFO and partner. Damou succeeds Patrice Schuetz, who left recently to pursue a new career opportunity. Damou joins Antin from CVC Capital Partners, where he was head of business development and shareholder relations. Prior to that, he spent nearly a decade in Morgan Stanley’s investment banking division. Damou began his career at Credit Suisse in 2011.

BGO Properties – The Canadian property management, operations, leasing, and services division of BGO has appointed Marlene Farias, national vice president, sustainability and technical services; Stephen Smith, has been appointed principal, commercial property management and leasing; and Jeff Wilson, VP, property management, Greater Toronto area. Farias brings more than 20 years of senior operations, property management, and sustainability expertise from leadership roles at Triovest and JLL. Smith has over 25 years of real estate leadership experience spanning Oxford Properties, Manulife and Wesgroup Properties. Wilson brings more than 20 years of property management and operations experience, most recently leading retail operations at Westdell Development Corporation.

Bell PartnersSparkle Mixson has joined the company as SVP of customer experience/marketing. In this role, Mixson will lead the company’s strategic customer experience initiatives, marketing, brand development and digital engagement efforts across its portfolio. She will be based in the company’s Atlanta corporate office. Mixson has over 20 years of experience in driving customer acquisition, leading teams, building brands and enhancing lifecycle marketing. She most recently served as the SVP of marketing and brand experience at First Key Homes. Before that time, she was a vice president of marketing for seven years at First Communities.

Puma Property FinanceLouise Gillon has been appointed director, head of hotels. The newly established head of hotels role reflects the continued growth ambitions of the Puma business. Gillon joins from Leumi UK, where she has held the position of head of hotel finance for the past 16 years. Prior to her role at Leumi UK, Gillon was a commercial credit analyst at AIB.

KGALChristian Topp has joined the firm’s sustainable infrastructure team as senior director institutional business. Topp was previously employed by Swiss Life Asset Managers. Prior to Swiss Life Asset Managers, he was responsible for developing the third-party infrastructure client business at Allianz Capital Partners.

CREFC Europe – Gregor Bamert of Aviva Investors has been named chair-elect. He will succeed Alison Lambert as chair next year to begin a two-year term. Bamert joined the board in 2022. Duncan MacPherson of Starwood Capital and Jennie Dorsaint of Norton Rose Fulbright join the board after being elected to three-year terms. Matthew Plax of Mizrahi Tefahot Bank and Nicola Free of Wells Fargo were re-elected, each to serve a second three-year term. The board bid farewell to Nassar Hussain of Brookland and Jeffrey Rubinoff, who retired from the partnership at White & Case at the end of June.

The Urban Land Institute EuropeRay Crowley, director, BCP Capital, has been appointed the next chair of the ULI Ireland National Council. He will serve on a voluntary basis for the next two years, which commenced on 1 July 2025.  He succeeds Marie Hunt of IPUT following the completion of her two-year term as chair. Crowley has been a member of ULI since 2007 and of the ULI Ireland executive committee since 2013. He is also a member of the ULI Europe Operational Real Estate Product Council. He brings extensive leadership experience in real estate having worked across direct real estate, listed real estate, sustainability consulting and public policy in Ireland, the UK and US.

Niam GroupAxel Karlsson has been appointed to the newly created CEO role to drive its private markets growth strategy. Karlsson joins from McKinsey & Company, where he spent 26 years, most recently serving as senior partner, global exco member and global leader of functional practices. Max Ilmoni has been appointed deputy CEO and head of capital formation and investor relations. Ilmoni joins from Partners Group, where he spent more than 17 years, most recently serving as global head of business development for private real estate.

IREMIS – The Luxembourg-based specialist real estate investment manager has appointed Lisa Neubueser as director hotel and leisure. Neubueser brings over 15 years of pan-European experience in operational real estate investment and investor relations, across the hospitality and residential sectors. Her professional career covered portfolio and investment management positions at Vertiq Capital, Greystar and Redevco Living, as well as European development roles at specialist operators Zoku and Cycas Hospitality. Before that, Neubueser was part of Invesco Real Estate’s hotel team.

RailpenJulia Diez has been promoted to head of UK productive assets, where she will coordinate efforts across real estate, infrastructure, and other private market assets.

Maya Capital – Charlie AlcockTancredi Dutto and Adrien Pujade-Lauraine have been appointed to spearhead the firm’s UK and European real estate origination push. Most recently, Alcock founded BigCity, a developer and operator of student and co-living assets in Europe. Prior to that, he co-founded M7 Real Estate in 2009. Earlier in his career, he worked at Halverton REIM, later Internos and Principal, and at IO Group, later Valad and Cromwell Property. Dutto brings 20 years of experience in the Italian investment and asset management sector. Prior to joining Maya, he was a partner at Miria Group, where he led the European team. Pujade-Lauraine has nearly 20 years of pan-European real estate experience. He began his career at JLL in Paris before moving to Ivanhoé Cambridge as a director and then moved to Maple Knoll Capital as principal and head of asset management.

MLP Group – The developer and manager of logistics parks across Europe has appointed Maciej Müldner to its management board, responsible for its finance division. Müldner joined MLP Group in July this year, as chief financial officer. In recent years, he has held key positions at the Dentsu Group in Poland and the Central and Eastern Europe region. Previously, he spent nearly 20 years with the Skanska Group, where between 2002 and 2011. In addition, he has overseen financial areas in development companies such as Skanska Property, Echo Investment, and Archicom.

Shorea CapitalAndrew Ostroumoff has been appointed head of asset management, UK. In this newly created role, Ostroumoff will oversee all asset and property management activities, including the development and execution of asset strategies for the firm’s UK portfolio. Prior to joining Shorea Capital, Ostroumoff was director of asset management at Longmead Capital, where he spent 10 years after moving from Colliers International. At Colliers, he managed client portfolios and oversaw asset management activity across offices, retail and industrial property. 

AlbaCore Capital – The firm has named Viktor Kozel as managing director as part of a four-member investment team appointed to lead the launch of a new Infrastructure debt strategy. Kozel’s most recent position was head of infrastructure debt at UBS Asset Management. Prior to joining UBS in 2018, Kozel was a member of the special situations infrastructure and energy lending team at Deutsche Bank. At the beginning of his career, he worked within the industry at GMR Infrastructure and the energy company AES in business development and M&A. The other members of the infrastructure debt team, all of whom were previously at UBS, are Ciara Halleman, Thibault Pontaut and Margherita Mascia. Halleman and Pontaut join as directors and have over 25 years of collective experience in infrastructure debt across advisory and finance. Mascia joins as an associate having worked as an analyst in UBS’s infrastructure Debt team for the last three years. 

Colby River – Delphine Deasy has been appointed managing director of capital management, bringing over 25 years of leadership experience from a range of investment institutions. 

Proxity – The pan-European logistics company has appointed Fabrizio Trani as head of Italy. Trani will take up his new role in the first quarter of 2026, where he will oversee Proxity’s operations in Italy. He joins from Patrizia, where he spent the past six years, most recently as head of asset management Italy. Prior to that, he held senior roles as a fund manager at Torre SGR / Fortress Investment Group and as an asset manager at Redbrick Investment Group, among others.

Oxford PropertiesEric Plesman is rejoining Oxford Properties as president and CEO, just over four years after leaving to lead global real estate at Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan. Executive chair Daniel Fournier will step away from the leadership of the firm as of 3 November, as Plesman joins on that date. Plesman is a member of the board of directors at the Greater Toronto Airport Authority, and also serves as chair of the institutional investor council at the Pension Real Estate Association. Since April 2021, Plesman has led HOOPP’s real estate business spanning North America, Europe and Asia Pacific. Plesman joined Oxford Properties in 2011 and spent over a decade at the firm, where he was promoted from head of Canadian investments to head of Canada, and ultimately to executive vice president, North America.

AEW EuropeVanessa Roux-Collet has been promoted to CEO Europe, replacing Rob Wilkinson, who is leaving to join UK real estate investment trust Hammerson as CEO. Christina Ofschonka has been named CIO Europe to replace Raphaël Brault, who is also leaving to join CBRE as CEO of its advisory business in France. Wilkinson succeeds Rita-Rose Gagné who, as announced in June, has informed the board of her intention to retire, following five years in role. Wilkinson has been AEW Europe’s CEO for over 11 years after joining the firm in 2009, initially serving as CIO in Europe until 2014. He was previously a non-executive director at UK property firm Grainger from 2015 to 2023 and has been a non-executive director of developer Derwent London since 2024. Roux-Collet will also head AEW Europe’s French business as part of the promotion which also includes Ofschonka being CIO Europe, in addition to her existing role as AEW Europe’s head of Germany & CEE. Brault is set to take over from Fabrice Allouche on 1 January 2026, as Allouche steps down as CEO and moves into a consulting role with CBRE. Prior to AEW, Brault spent more than a decade at Morgan Stanley, where he led the commercial real estate structured finance team for France, Benelux and Spain. Prior to joining AEW Europe, Roux-Collet was a senior lawyer at Clifford Chance within the real estate department, having started her career at Jones Day. With almost 20 years of industry experience, Ofschonka joined AEW Europe in 2016.

Stena LineSarah West has been appointed to the newly created UK & Ireland ports managing director role. West joins Stena Line following her role as CEO of Harwich Haven Authority, where she oversaw marine services for key ports including Felixstowe, Ipswich and Harwich. Her career also includes senior strategic roles such as leading the operational implementation of the South Harbour at the Port of Aberdeen and COO at the Port of Dover.

SavillsEmily Fell has been appointed senior director within the firm’s Asia Pacific capital markets team. Fell will focus on the firm’s regional strategy in the living sectors. Fell began her career in the UK student accommodation sector in 2011 before relocating to Singapore in 2015.

Region Group — Greg Chubb will join the Australia-listed firm as chief executive and managing director from March next year. Chubb is currently Link REIT’s chief operating officer, based in Hong Kong. In his current role he is responsible for the management of the Hong Kong-listed trust’s investments and operations in Hong Kong, Mainland China, Singapore and Australia. Prior to Link, he was the retail CEO and executive director of Charter Hall Retail Reit in Australia. Before that, he had various leadershjp roles in Coles Supermarkets, Mirvac and Lendlease. He is a fellow of the Australian Property Institute and was the joint deputy chairman of the Shopping Centre Council of Australia.

Harworth GroupPhil Redding has been appointed independent non-executive director. Redding will also join the remuneration committee of Harworth on appointment, taking the place of Lisa Scenna following her appointment to the nomination committee, replacing Ruth Cooke, who stepped down from the board at the company’s AGM. Most recently, Redding served as CEO of Tritax Eurobox. He previously spent 25 years at Segro, including eight and a half years as CIO, and, having joined the board of Segro in May 2013, serving on the executive and investment committees. 

To read the latest IPE Real Assets magazine click here.