Doug Pugh Following Langley to Ashforth Pacific

Langley came over from Cushman & Wakefield last month to take over the president's role from Hank Ashforth, who became CEO of the company. Pugh starts on Monday as vice president in charge of marketing, responsible for leasing of all existing properties and increasing the West Coast presence of its third-party property management and construction arms. He'll also be on the acquisition team looking for new properties to acquire in Southern California and the Northwest, which Langley says is a top priority.

In some ways, Pugh is replacing Scott Weigel, who previously handled leasing for the company. In other ways, however, Pugh's job is much more broad, says Langley. "The job was really recast," Langley tells GlobeSt.com "The previous position was focused on portfolio leasing and the job going forward will add equal emphasis on the marketing of our construction services and third-party management operations."

Pugh has been focused on office leasing in Downtown and suburban markets since he came to Cushman & Wakefield straight out of college. One of the bigger deals he and Langley hooked up for while at C&W was the $50 million sale of the 19-story, 270,000-sf Benjamin Franklin Plaza to Spieker Properties in 1998 on behalf of Nichiei America Corp.

"We've worked together on selected assignments and I always enjoyed it and respected his capabilities," says Langley, speaking from a car phone in San Diego this week, where he and Ashforth are on the hunt for new properties. "We were tickled that Doug was available and that we had a position available."

Less tickled but understanding is Terry Shanley, managing director of Cushman & Wakefield of Oregon. In addition to Langley and Pugh, C&W lost Mike Wells in January 2000 when Sacramento, CA-based Panattoni Development hired him to run its Portland operations.

"Initially, you always hate to see good, tenured people go, but as of late we've kind of become a training ground for our clients," Shanley tells GlobeSt.com. "The good news is they are still our clients."

Additionally, Shanley says it provides an opportunity to reallocate some resources in terms of senior people working with mid-range and junior people within the company. "Obviously we will be taking a look at backfilling his position with people from inside and outside the marketplace," says Shanley, "but for the time being it allows for some younger people to get into more of a senior role a little more quickly."