JLL Hires Deputy Mayor to Target Public Sector

LOS ANGELES-Former L.A. Deputy Mayor Renata Simril has joined Jones Lang LaSalle as a managing director to expand the company’s public institution practice for the Southwest region. Simril, who was Los Angeles Deputy Mayor for economic development and a former SVP at Forest City Development, will be based in JLL’s Downtown L.A. office.

JLL says that in her new role, Simril will focus on real estate solutions to local, state, national and international public institutions. The company’s public institutions specialists provide advisory services to optimize public sector leased and owned portfolios, support large-scale developments through the real estate life cycle and implement public-private partnerships to revitalize urban areas.

Kevin Wayer, managing director and co-president of Jones Lang LaSalle’s public institutions practice, note that Simril’s assignment is part of the company’s initiative to strengthen its public institutions practice across the country. Her experience with various public/private residential and mixed-use developments, as well as her experience in promoting financial and community growth for the City of Los Angeles, “gives the firm immediate inroads into the public sector mindset and processes,” Wayer said in the announcement. Jan Pope, Southwest Market director for Jones Lang LaSalle, added that the company’s push in the public institutions arena is an effort to “strengthen our position as an adviser to universities, government agencies, elected officials and those who work in the public/private sector.”

Before joining Jones Lang LaSalle, Simril was senior vice president with Forest City Development in Los Angeles, where she was responsible for implementing the strategic vision for various residential and mixed-use developments. She worked as the project executive for the adaptive reuse of a $157 million, mixed-use project with 238 high-end condos and two-story retail space comprising 20,000 square feet and 400 parking spaces. Previously, she served in the Hahn Administration as Deputy Mayor for economic development for Los Angeles. She established and staffed the Mayor’s Council of Economic Advisors, oversaw citywide economic development policy, managed the entitlement process and led an adaptive re-use policy initiative for approximately 4,000 housing units completed citywide.