CBRE Hires J.P. Morgan Executive as New CMO
Benji Baer, formerly a managing director at the financial institution, is filling a position which was vacated approximately one year ago.
NEW YORK CITY—Benji Baer has joined CBRE as the chief marketing officer. Baer comes from J.P. Morgan, where she was the managing director, global head of investments and product marketing, asset and wealth management. At CBRE, from the New York office she will focus on increasing marketing capabilities and providing global strategic direction.
“Benji comes to us with a wealth of experience positioning world-class financial services brands and building marketing organizations to drive business growth,” says Jack Durburg, global COO, CBRE.
Baer was at J.P. Morgan for slightly over eight years. She established a new global product marketing platform to unify client acquisition and retention communications and activities, according to her LinkedIn profile. She also served as managing director, CMO, retirement.
Previously, Baer worked at Legg Mason for slightly over seven years, as a managing director in Americas marketing and a director of brand strategy and communications. Her responsibilities included handling branding following the merger of Legg Mason and Citigroup Asset Management.
She had worked for 11 years at Alliance Bernstein in various senior roles involving marketing strategy, global marketing communications, public relations and campaign planning. For three years, Baer was a senior marketing communications manager at Equitable Capital Management.
In 1986, she graduated from Tufts University with a bachelor’s degree in economics.
She is filling the position vacated by Paul Suchman who left CBRE over a year ago. A company spokesperson tells GlobeSt.com that Suchman left the firm to pursue other opportunities. He was hired in August 2013, as the CMO, a newly created position reporting to Mike Lafitte, the COO at the time. Lafitte is now the global CEO, advisory services, at CBRE in the Dallas, TX office.
Suchman came to CBRE from the advertising agency BBDO. He also worked at Ogilvy & Mather in the digital area with tech companies and consumer-focused brands. His LinkedIn profile also indicates he has been the CMO in residence at WPP from July 2018 and since August 2018 has been executive advisor to Oceana, a nonprofit that works to protect oceans.