According to Stath Karras, Cushman & Wakefield’s executive managing director of national investment sales―who also oversees the Cushman & Wakefield resolution group―the company chose Johnson for the new position on the basis of his experience in all facets of real estate development, management, leasing and sales processes. Before his position as senior managing director of Cushman & Wakefield’s North San Diego County and Riverside County operations, Johnson was in charge of those operations for Burnham Real Estate before its acquisition by Cushman & Wakefield in early 2008. His previous experience also includes serving as senior vice president of Trammell Crow Co. in Southern California, where he was responsible for a 38-million-square-foot investment portfolio and six-million-square-foot corporate facility portfolio. His career also includes 14 years with CB Richard Ellis, where served as regional manager of its Mountain Region in Denver; executive managing director of its Western Division, Newport Beach; and later as executive managing director of its Eastern Division, Washington DC.

Karras notes that Cushman & Wakefield, through its resolution group, provides owners and lenders of distressed commercial real estate assets with services designed to stabilize property performance, enhance value and maximize recovery. The Cushman & Wakefield distressed assets and receivership services group operates with the company’s resolution, receivership and capital markets platforms, which are designed to address the challenges that owners, investors and lenders face "as the nation’s mortgage crisis extends to the commercial real estate sector," the company says. It calls the effort "a one-stop, fully-integrated resource for receivership, property management, and transaction and disposition services."