Henry S. Miller Commercial Casts Execs in New Roles

Greg Trout goes from executive vice president to the lead spot, a newly created post that takes some of the responsibility off the shoulders of Sam G. Kartalis, president and COO. The new hire is Mark Skinner, who has been accorded a vice president's title and manager of an Arlington office being formed to replace an operation bought about three months ago by Dunn Commercial. Trout says he hopes to have the lease signed this week and the office ready to roll by Friday.

Trout tells GlobeSt.com that his plan is to continue hiring. Since the year's start, Henry S. Miller Commercial has lured four key executives away from other brokerage firms. The firm now employs 22 brokers in the office/industrial division. Two brokers will be assigned to the Arlington office, but most likely another half dozen will be brought on board by the 2002 close.

"There's an opportunity to expand business in a pretty aggressive manner," Trout says of the current market. "We are going to capitalize on our competitors' perception that the market is slow." That strategy could mean offices for more Texas cities. It's too early to talk about, he says as he admits that the firm is "toying" with the idea.

Trout launched his real estate career with the firm in 1983. In 1989, he was named manager of the industrial division and in 1997 became division head for the office/industrial division.

Skinner is tasked with refocusing and expanding the Great Southwest Division in Arlington and Grand Prairie while pushing for more business in Greater Fort Worth, Grapevine and Coppell. In a prepared statement, he says the plan is to grow--business and brokers to man the drive.

The Great Southwest has about 78 million sf of industrial space and 13 million sf of office space. "Our goal is to penetrate those markets as best we can," says Skinner, a 19-year veteran who's spent the bulk of his career focusing on the Great Southwest sector.