Jones Lang LaSalle appointed financial services expert Mark Melas to its banking industry group in New York City. He assumed the role of account director after serving 16 years as a corporate real estate executive with HSBC. Melas will work with financial institutions looking to drive business growth, mitigate risk and reduce costs with their national real estate portfolios.
“We work with many of the largest banks in the world to help them leverage corporate real estate and workplace solutions to drive value for their shareholders and customers,” said Stuart Hicks, president of JLL’s banking industry group. “Mark joins our team at an especially critical time in the evolution of the financial services industry, and we know that our clients will benefit from his ability to understand the real estate nuances of this industry in particular. He’s got agility in that he can tackle global issues that banks face right now, like reducing real estate footprints on a large scale, so that they can focus more time on their customers."
Melas was in charge of HSBC’s corporate real estate across North America and also was responsible for its assets in South America. Prior to his work at the global bank, he served with NYNEX (now Verizon) in its corporate real estate division for 17 years. His practice area included business unit interface and alignment, strategic planning, portfolio optimization and master plan development and oversight of office and retail projects.