This week's People of Note includes the following markets: Central U.S., New York City, Orange County, and Pittsburgh.
CENTRAL U.S.
Gerard Named President of CBRE Central Div
By Justin Sumner
Mike Gerard has been named president of CBRE Group, Inc.'s U.S. Central Division, a geographic area covering 25 offices in nine Midwest states.
Gerard has served as chief learning officer since 2011, responsible for CBRE University and various learning and development programs that offered training and instruction to more than 600 participants. He will continue to provide executive oversight for CBRE University. Andrea Lipton, corporate director of learning and development, has been promoted to vice president and will run the University's day-to-day operations.
Joining CBRE in 2005 as managing director of the company's Detroit office, Gerard rose to executive managing director with responsibility for CBRE's Midwest region encompassing eight offices in five states. He also serves on the company's Americas Operating Management Board, a committee of senior executives that sets policy and strategic direction in the best practices for CBRE Americas.
With 22 years in the industry, Gerard has experience in all aspects of
commercial real estate. Prior to joining CBRE, he served as executive vice president and managing director with Grubb & Ellis. Throughout his career advising major corporations and institutional owners, he has closed more than 990 lease and sale transactions with an aggregate value of over $1 billion.
Editor's Note: CoStar's People of Note is published each Friday covering the latest commercial real estate executive level promotions and new hires. Click on the headline of each article to jump to full coverage. Follow the news on Twitter [at] LaurieForbes and [at] TheCoStarGroup. This week's issue is guest-written by Justin Sumner.
NEW YORK CITY
Friedrich Takes Over as Brookfield CEO
By CoStar Staff
Dennis Friedrich began his tenure as CEO of Brookfield Office Properties Inc. (BPO) last month. The previously announced transition follows a year in which Friedrich served as president and global chief investment officer. He was also appointed a director.
Other changes at Brookfield include Tom Farley becoming sole president and continuing in his role as global chief operating officer. Mark Brown assumed Friedrich's prior role as global chief investment officer. Former CEO Ric Clark has become chairman of the board of directors. Gordon Arnell is staying on as a director while Bruce Flatt has stepped down from the board.
Friedrich has advanced steadily through the firm's senior management. Prior to serving as president and global chief investment officer, he was CEO of U.S. Commercial Operations since 2009, after previous stints as president and chief operating officer for the U.S. Commercial Operations unit. He has been involved with several major acquisitions, including the Trizec deal in 2006, and also previously held the role of head of Strategic Initiatives for the U.S. property portfolio.
Prior to joining Brookfield Office Properties, Friedrich was co-head of Jones Lang LaSalle's tenant advisory practice in New York. He holds a business degree in finance from Baruch College and is a member of the Real Estate Board of New York.
NEW YORK, ORANGE COUNTY
Ernst & Young Appoints Gibson, Herrenkohl To Head Construction and Real Estate Advisory Services
By CoStar Research
It appears that it will take two people to replace Ernst & Young's Mark Costello, who recently assumed the role of global leader of real estate advisory services at the Big Four organization.
Ernst & Young divvied up the responsibilities for the practice Costello previously headed and appointed Mark Gibson and Josh Herrenkohl as co-leaders of the firm’s U.S. Construction and Real Estate Advisory Services (CREAS) practice.
Based in Irvine, CA, Gibson will manage the practice in the Western U.S. He specializes in risk analysis, business process assessments and re-engineering, organizational design, project management; occupancy cost reduction, outsourcing, and procurement analysis and shared services assessments. In addition to teaching operations and project management at New York University and international development at Columbia University, Gibson is also qualified as a fellow of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors and holds the Project Management Professional qualification.
Herrenkohl will head up the practice covering the Eastern U.S. and Canada from his base in New York. He a certified Project Management Professional and has a specialized focus on real estate private equity having worked with several real estate funds. He has assisted numerous real estate and construction clients assess and implement leading practice processes, reporting structures, controls and technologies.
ORANGE COUNTY
McDonald Promoted to Top US Post for Dexus
By Justin Sumner
Bruce McDonald, a veteran commercial real estate executive in Orange County, California has been appointed to managing director of US investments for DEXUS Property Group, the company's top U.S. post. In his new role, McDonald will oversee all of DEXUS's U.S. operations, including development, asset and property management for key West Coast markets like Los Angeles, the Inland Empire and Seattle/Tacoma.
McDonald has more than 30 years of experience, previously serving as DEXUS managing director for asset management and development. Before that he was president and co-founder of Master Development Corporation focusing on land and building developments. His career has seen the completion of more than 12 million square feet of commercial development exceeding $1 billion in valuation.
A graduate of Stanford University, McDonald holds a bachelor's degree in biological science as well as California general contractor and real estate broker licenses. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of U.S. Vets, a national non-profit dedicated to meeting the housing and transitional needs of military veterans.
ORANGE COUNTY
HFF Hires Thomas To Boost Net Lease Sales
By CoStar Research
HFF has recruited net lease investment sales expert Jeffrey Thomas from CBRE Group to head up and expand its net lease platform nationally. Thomas, who has more than 15 years of experience in the commercial real estate industry, was named senior managing director and will be based in HFF's Orange County, CA office. While at CBRE, Thomas was credited with completing more than $3.6 billion in investment sales. Before that he was a senior product manager at LoopNet.com, the online commercial real estate marketing service acquired by CoStar earlier this year.
"We are very focused on the national growth of our net lease platform," noted Mark West, senior managing director and head of the net lease team at HFF. "Our strategy is to find and hire top talent from around the country to best serve our clients."
Thomas' involvement with net lease sales dates back to 1997 when he was part of a team that developed the National Net Leased Properties Group at what was then CB Richard Ellis. He is a graduate of California Polytechnic State University San Luis Obispo.
PITTSBURGH
McLaughlin, Oliva to Lead Pittsburgh Office of Newmark Grubb Knight Frank
By David Parks
New York-based Newmark Grubb Knight Frank has named long time Grubb & Ellis employees Gerard McLaughlin (pictured) and Louis Oliva to serve jointly as executive managing directors at the firm's Pittsburgh office. Both will continue established real estate assignments in addition to their management roles.
McLaughlin is an experienced office broker who has represented the leasing of several hundred million square feet working with both tenants and landlords. His client list includes Ericsson, Federated Investors, People's Natural Gas, and Keystone Property Group.
Oliva is one of the region's top industrial brokers, and has been active in sales and leasing for more than 20 years. He recently aided in the sale of the 200,000-square-foot former LeNature's bottling plant in Latrobe.
NEW YORK CITY
Delmonte, Baum Join Avison Young
By Karen Kester
James Delmonte and Elliot Baum have joined Avison Young as principals in the company's newly established office in New York City. Delmonte also will serve as vice president of research and Baum will serve as vice president of marketing.
Delmonte, with more than 17 years of experience, will manage all aspects of Avison Young's market research in the Tri-State area. This will include tracking over 500 million square feet of inventory in more than 2,000 properties. Delmonte was previously vice president of research with Jones Lang LaSalle in NY. Before that, he served as director of research for Cushman & Wakefield.
With more than 20 years of marketing experience, Baum will direct Avison Young's marketing, public relations and branding efforts throughout the Tri-State area. Baum was previously senior managing director of the Consulting Group and Colliers International's head of marketing for the Tri-State Region. Prior to Colliers, he served as creative consultant with Studley.
Follow the news on Twitter [at] LaurieForbes and [at] TheCoStarGroup. Check out last week's edition of People of Note.