Official Word: Grubb's Barovick Resigned

The brief statement, released this morning, appears below in an edited version:

"Grubb & Ellis Co., one of the leading providers of integrated real estate services, today announced that its president and chief executive officer, Barry M. Barovick, has resigned to pursue other opportunities.

" 'We were fortunate to have Barry join the company in 2001. We appreciate his efforts during his tenure and we wish him success in his future endeavors,' Reuben Leibowitz, former chairman and current board member, said on behalf of the company."

No word was made in the release of the fates of CFO Ian Bress and chief strategy officer Elizabeth Kulik, both of whom, local brokerage sources told GlobeSt.com last week, also left the firm. Neither was any mention made of possible replacements for Barovick, Bress or Kulik.

Barovick came to Grubb almost two years ago from a post at Ernst & Young. His tenure was marked by a major push to an integrated platform of all services at the firm with a special emphasis on the C-suite of corporate tenants, essentially elevating the firm from one-off brokerage services to real estate consultancy with brokerage as a key ingredient. In recent months, he had sought to underscore that strategy with grass-roots support from Grubb employees nationwide in what he had termed the Iowa Plan.