Hammerson, Gecina, CBRE, Long Harbour, Centuria, CapitalLand, Cushman & Wakefield, SUSI Partners, RobecoSAM, Faithful + Gould, Crown Estate, Hines, Cohen & Steers
CBRE – Stephen Hubbard is retiring as UK chairman and member of the UK executive committee of the real estate services firm at the end of this year. He will be succeeded by Michael Brodtman who has been appointed UK chairman with effect 1 January 2020. Hubbard joined Richard Ellis in 1976 becoming a partner in 1985 and has served on the UK and European management boards before being appointed to the role of UK chairman in 2014. CB Commercial merged with Richard Ellis in 1998 to become CBRE. Following his retirement from CBRE, Hubbard will continue to be involved in the property industry through his various appointments including his ongoing positions as chairman of LXI REIT and non-executive director of Workspace Group.
Hammerson – The shopping centre owner has appointed Méka Brunel non-executive director. Brunel will join from 1 December and will also become a member of the investment and disposal committee and the nomination committee. Brunel is CEO of Paris-based real estate investment trust Gecina. In 2003 she joined Gecina as executive director of strategic development. In 2006, Méka was appointed CEO of Eurosic, the office REIT, a role she held for three years before becoming European president of Ivanhoé Cambridge in 2009.
Cohen & Steers – Jon Cheigh, executive vice president and head of global real estate, has been named chief investment officer. Cheigh succeeds Joseph Harvey, president of Cohen & Steers, who has held the position of CIO since 2003 and was recently appointed to the board of directors. Cheigh remains head of global real estate and will continue to focus the majority of his time on managing the real estate team, process and portfolios. As CIO, he will provide guidance and oversight to all Cohen & Steers investment teams and facilitate deeper interactions across the department. Cheigh joined the Cohen & Steers US real estate team in 2005 as a research analyst after spending a decade as a real estate analyst and acquisition specialist. He was promoted to portfolio manager in 2008 and was made head of global real estate in 2012.
Hines – Donna Springall, Sean Hughes and Matthew Leonard have joined the real estate firm’s UK team. Springall has been appointed as an associate asset manager in the retail team. She joins Hines from The Crown Estate, where she spent over three years managing a portfolio of retail parks across the country. Prior to this, Springall was an asset manager overseeing several retail parks for British Land. Hughes joins as a development manager and will work closely with Robbie Pitman, who became head of development at Hines UK in July 2019. Prior to joining Hines, Hughes spent over four years as a project manager at consultancy Faithful + Gould, and before this was an assistant engineer at Atkins. Leonard has joined Hines as an analyst will be supporting Hines’ acquisitions activity.
Long Harbour – The UK real estate manager has promoted Rebecca Taylor as managing director of its build to rent investment team for the company’s multi-family investment programme. Taylor will lead the Long Harbour Multi-Family Venture’s £500m acquisition programme as it targets schemes of over 150 units in London, the South East and selected regional cities. She will continue to report to James Aumonier, fund manager and executive director for Long Harbour’s build to rent investment programme. Taylor joined Long Harbour in 2015 as director real estate. Prior to this spent eight years within Laing O’Rourke’s property and investment team.
Centuria – The ASX-listed investment manager has expanded its transaction team with the appointment of Nick Gaston as transactions manager, Tony Seo as transactions analyst and promoted Nathan Guo from transactions analyst to transactions manager. Gaston has been working in real estate and corporate finance for over 13 years, most recently at CapitalLand, where he was capital transactions manager, and before that at Stockland, where he spent four years most recently as logistics and business parks development manager. Seo has worked in real estate for six years, ultimately becoming a senior valuer at Cushman & Wakefield, where he spent just over four years.
SUSI Partners – CEO and founder Tobias Reichmuth will step down from the management of the company to become chairman of the board of directors. From January next year, the CEO duties will be shared between CIO Marco van Daele and Marius Dorfmeister, the global head of clients and member of the executive management. Dorfmeister recently joined SUSI Partners from Zurich-based sustainability investor RobecoSAM, where he had worked since January 2017, serving first as head of clients and marketing and member of the executive committee and most recently as co-CEO. Reichmuth, who has been CEO since the company was founded in 2009, will take over as chairman of the board of directors in January next year, with current chairman Björn Bajan assuming the deputy role.
