Kruse now becomes senior managing director overseeing CBRE's Beverly Hills, Century City, Downtown Los Angeles and South Bay offices, charged with spearheading all new business development, client relations and service delivery. His assignment also includes the successful integration of all services lines, including brokerage, asset management, project management, global research and consulting, and portfolio management. Kruse will be based in CBRE's Beverly Hills office.

A 25-year veteran of commercial real estate, Kruse formerly was executive vice president of the metro region for Grubb & Ellis. He was responsible for all transactional business and operations, heading a staff of more than 200 in advisory, brokerage, research and administration. He oversaw the West Los Angeles, South Bay, Downtown Los Angeles and San Fernando Valley markets for Grubb & Ellis.

The new CBRE executive began his career in 1978 at Cushman & Wakefield, where he was a top-producing broker for many years before departing the firm to become a partner at Robert P. Warmington Co. At Warmington, he was involved in the ownership, development, rehabilitation and leasing of projects in both California and Arizona. Before joining Grubb & Ellis in 1997, Kruse was a partner at Schneider Commercial Real Estate and was one of four partners that led the statewide, 160-broker company for more than a decade. In September he was a guest panelist at the UCLA Anderson School of Management Annual Forecast and from 1998-2001 served as a lecturer/panelist at the UCLA Los Angeles Times Annual Forecast. Among other posts he has held, Kruse was appointed to the Grubb & Ellis National Investment Committee in 1998-2000, dedicated to the study of best practices enhancing value to clients for the firm's top investment group.

Besides his career in real estate, Kruse has long been an NBC/ABC sports commentator for the Olympic water polo team. He was a member of the United States National and Olympic water polo teams from 1973 to 1978, and was admitted to the U.C Irvine Athletic Hall of Fame in 1986.