Kennedy-Wilson Loses Key Dallas Players, Names New Leader

Bob Young, a high-profile player in Dallas brokerage circles, has vacated the top role in Dallas to "pursue other opportunities." Young tells GlobeSt.com that he "is looking for a platform to continue to do what I do in the real estate services business." The split, say the players, came down amicably.

"It's time for me to move," Young says, adding he's checking out all possibilities in management, player coach role or production. "I wish them and all their professionals the same success that I hope they'd wish me." Young headed up the Kennedy-Wilson office for the past two years and prior to spent five years leading Grubb & Ellis Co.'s Dallas team.

Allen Gump, an 18-year veteran who's been with the firm for four years, has been named senior managing director for the Dallas office. Kennedy-Wilson's vice president of marketing, Cynthia Giordano, says the transition is going well. She adds Gump, a top producer for the office's industrial trade, has the internal support he needs from his peers.

In the past two months, Kennedy-Wilson also lost Bernard Deaton, head of the Dallas management group, and Darryl Cothron. Both are now on board at the Dallas office of Houston-based PM Realty Group. PM Realty's southwest divisional head, Bill Goeke, says Deaton is leading the team as senior vice president of the Dallas region. Cothron, who just came on board last week, is an assistant vice president of leasing.

Goeke says the duo's hiring and Deaton's new role are just part of PM Realty's new hard focus on Dallas. The regional office opened last year and includes Austin, San Antonio and El Paso in its territory.

In Kennedy-Wilson's corporate office, the exits do not spell doom for the brokerage staff in Dallas. "The brokerage team is intact and moving forward," Giordano emphasizes. As for the trio's exit, Giordano says: "Great opportunities presented themselves so they decided to move on.