"Colliers Macaulay Nicolls has grown substantially in the USover the past several years, both in the West as well asnationally. We're at a size now where we need to have a centralpoint of accountability for those functions across the company,"Spiegel explains. Colliers is a partnership of independentcompanies, and Colliers Macaulay Nicolls is the largest member ofColliers International, operating 146 offices in 36 countries, with26 offices in the US.

According to Rick Chichester, president of US operations forColliers, "We'd like to see that growth continue, but we also wantto be sure we're operating as efficiently and effectively aspossible." Spiegel adds that one function of his job will be toensure "a solid, sustainable infrastructure" that will operateefficiently both in the current economic climate and down the roadwhen the economy improves.

Spiegel draws a parallel between what he will be doing insidethe company and what Colliers' brokers do on the outside. "Just aswe tell our brokers and our real estate professionals that it isbest to specialize in terms of serving the client, this is designedto do the same thing internally," he says.