SUSI Partners, Knight Frank, Actis, Hines, JLL, Knight Frank, Pocket Living, Mileway, Moorfield Group, Grosvenor, Segro

Hines – John Carr has been appointed chief financial officer for Europe, succeeding current CFO David Braaten who will retire. Carr joined Hines in 1997, becoming regional controller for the American west region. He then moved to Beijing between 2006 and 2011 as his role was broadened to include Hines’s Asia Pacific Region, before returning to the US and continuing to serve both regions until his appointment to the firm’s European leadership team. As CFO for Hines Europe, Carr is responsible for all aspects of finance and accounting for the firm’s European platform, which includes investment, development and management of real estate across all product types. As a member of the senior leadership team, he will also play a key role in the firm’s investor and lender relationship management activity. Braaten is stepping down from the role after 30 years as an integral part of Hines’s senior leadership team both in Europe and globally to begin his well-deserved retirement. Since joining in 1994, Braaten has served in various financial and operational roles in several international cities including New York, Barcelona, London and Luxembourg City.

Mileway – The pan-European last-mile logistics real estate company has appointed Andrew Jones managing director for the UK. Jones has been Mileway’s regional director for the North West and Yorkshire since March 2020. Prior to Mileway, Jones spent eight years at Hansteen, where he managed teams across the UK, as well as six years at Ashtenne. 

Moorfield Group – Marc Gilbard, currently CEO, is to assume the newly created position of executive chairman and share his CEO responsibilities with Charles Ferguson-Davie. Gilbard joined Moorfield from Goldman Sachs over 28 years ago and founded the company’s private equity real estate strategy. In his new role, Gilbard will continue to chair the Moorfield Group board as well as the strategy, investment, remuneration and audit/risk committees. Ferguson-Davie will remain as CIO while assuming joint CEO responsibilities. Ferguson-Davie joined Moorfield from Lazard in 2005 and has been CIO since 2013, having joined the Moorfield Group board in 2011. As co-CEO, he will assume greater managerial responsibility, including chair of the operational board, alongside his existing functions as CIO. Steve Hall, previously group finance director, is joining the Moorfield Group board as CFO. Sadie Malim, previously head of special projects, ESG and legal, is joining the Moorfield Group board as chief legal and corporate development officer. Both Malim and Hall have been with Moorfield for over 15 years and have sat on the Moorfield Investment Management board since 2021. Pablo Hutchinson, previously an investment associate, is to become a senior investment manager. He will continue to lead on origination for Moorfield’s residential and student accommodation strategies. Oliver Wallbridge, previously an investment analyst, is to become an investment associate.

Segro – Anna Bond has been appointed head of Western Corridor, responsible for the overall leadership of the company’s development and asset management activities across the Thames Valley, including the Slough Trading Estate, as well as the Heathrow Airport and the M4 corridor portfolio. Bond was most recently executive director in Grosvenor’s UK property business. Since joining Grosvenor in 2008 Anna has also held senior positions in its flagship London estate, including leading asset, investment and property management. Bond will join Segro on 10 June 2024 and will be a member of the company’s UK leadership team reporting to UK MD, James Craddock.

SUSI Partners – Sven Simonis has been appointed head of client solutions and member of the leadership team. Simonis joins the firm from Credit Suisse Asset Management where he headed institutional client coverage efforts across the EMEA region and held a senior management position as country head Germany. Simonis will lead SUSI’s client solutions team and oversee global distribution and client service efforts as a member of the leadership team. Simonis moved into the financial services industry early in his career and over the course of 24 years held various client-oriented positions in asset management and banking, including at UBS, Credit Suisse, DWS, Deutsche Bank, and Morgan Stanley. Most recently, he held senior leadership and client coverage positions in UBS’s and Credit Suisse’s asset management divisions.

Actis – Neda Vakilian, the head of the firm’s investor solutions group and Davi Carvalho Mota, director in the long life infrastructure strategy, have both been promoted to partner. Vakilian joined Actis in January 2022 and is based in London where she is responsible for leading capital raising initiatives and strategic investor programmes. Before joining Actis, Vakilian was co-head of capital solutions and investor relations for Amber Infrastructure. Prior to this, she worked at Macquarie Capital and the Green Investment Bank.  Vakilian began her career as a solicitor at Clifford Chance and SJ Berwin in the private equity, fund formation teams. Following her promotion, Vakilian will join Actis’ leadership team. Mota joined Actis in 2019 and is based in São Paulo, Brazil. He has over a decade of experience in the infrastructure sector in Latin America. Alongside his role at Actis, Mota also sits on the boards of three Actis portfolio companies in Latin America: El Pelicano, a solar generation business; HRZ Transmissoras, an energy transmission business; and Eolicas Babilonia, a wind energy generation business. Before joining Actis, Mota was an investment director at Patria Investimentos where he was responsible for leading investments in infrastructure sub-sectors including power, toll roads, and sanitation. Prior to Patria, Mota worked for AT Kearney and Bain & Company.

Knight Frank – The global property adviser has appointed Philipp Ueberschaer as EMEA head of occupier strategy and solutions. Ueberschaer joins from JLL where he spent 17 years in the occupier business, working across Germany, France, London and most recently as managing director of the international desk in New York.

JLL – David Green-Morgan has joined JLL in a newly created role of senior adviser, capital markets research, Asia Pacific. Based in Singapore, Green-Morgan will partner with JLL’s network of Asia Pacific and global research professionals. Before joining JLL, he was the global head of real asset research at MSCI. He managed research and operations for Real Capital Analytics in Asia Pacific, before it was acquired and merged with MSCI in 2021. Across his career, which also included a previous stint at JLL, Green-Morgan has been based in London, San Francisco, Sydney and Singapore. 

Pocket Living – The affordable-housing developer’s founder Marc Vlessing has taken on the role of chair. Chief financial officer Paul Rickard has been promoted to managing director. Rickard, who has been Pocket’s CFO for the past five years, will now be responsible for leading Pocket Living’s long-term strategy and operational delivery.

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