Executive Watch

Perspective

Today’s extraordinary demand for real estate professionals hashighlighted a serious scarcity of talent in the 30-somethingcategory. The dearth of experienced candidates in this agegroup is an echo-effect from the real estate collapse of the early'90s, when freshly minted graduates steered clear of real estate topursue other, healthier industries and what appeared to be betterlong-term career opportunities. This shortage createssignificant present-day issues for organizations that want and needa blend of talent on their teams, especially to occupy the secondchair, to leverage leadership and fulfill succession plans. The problem has reached epic proportions, as capital flows continueto fuel investment and development activity. In response, wesee the gap being filled increasingly by late-stage careerprofessionals who previously may have been viewed as too old torecruit but now are recognized as delivering extraordinaryexperience and the ability to hit the ground running. Theseseasoned pros also provide significant organizational leverage forgrowing and grooming the young talent that has flooded real estate,suddenly a trendy alternative for the hungry graduate.

Anthony J. LoPinto is CEO of Equinox Partners, an executive search firm specializing in the real estate industry, and parent company of SelectLeaders

The views expressed in this article arethe author’s own.

Job Opportunities

LOWE ENTERPRISES INC.
(CALIFORNIA) Vice President, Corporate Director of Real EstateSales The vice president will provide strategic directionand oversight for sales force organization, staffing andcompensation plans, sales distribution and solicitation plans andwill develop and maintain appropriate management informationsystems for all LDD projects and all real estate related residualbusinesses.

CB RICHARD ELLIS
(NEW YORK) Senior Controller He or she will maintain optimum client(internal and external) satisfaction, while guaranteeing CB RichardEllis’ financial interests are being met and protected. Theselected candidate may have the responsibility of overseeing therequirements for at least one strategic account client.

DISCOVERY REAL ESTATE SERVICES
(ILLINOIS) Senior Director Acquisitions This is a self-starter withdemonstrable transaction experience over many years and in manyproduct types. This person is well respected in the industry. Thisrole deals with daily work of sourcing, underwriting, and closingdeals in selected markets. This role is the primary source andidentification of new investments.

NEW YORK LIFE INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT LLC
(NEW YORK) Investment Analyst – Loan Production The analyst willactively work with and support senior loan producers and will beinvolved in all aspects of the loan origination, due diligence,underwriting, and loan closing processes.

RREEF
(CALIFORNIA) Financial Analyst Primary duties andresponsibilities will include, but are not limited, to assisting inpreparation of the annual investment plan; and assisting in themanagement of the appraisal process by securing appraisal bids,tracking assignments and reporting results.

JONES LANG LASALLE
(CALIFORNIA) Project Manager We are currently seeking aproject manager to join our project and development services grouplocated in San Francisco. Our project and development servicesgroup provides a range of occupancy-related design, constructionand relocation services for corporations, institutions andprofessional services firms.

GE COMMERCIAL FINANACE – REAL ESTATE
(CANADA) Associate Director The associate directorwill be responsible for assisting originators in screening loansubmission packages for CMBS and Structured Finance loans;providing analytical and financial analysis support for CMBS and SFloan transactions; and providing due diligence and underwritingsupport for loan origination team.

Promotions

McSHANE CONSTRUCTION
(ROSEMONT, IL) Michael Winger, William C. Thomas, and Mark A. Osman ascend fromsenior project managers to project executives. Winger is aregistered professional engineer in the state of Iowa and has beenwith the company since 1998. Thomas managed construction forthe Lakeshore Medical Center in Chicago and received “OutstandingProject Manager of 2005-06.” Before his promotion, Osman worked asmanager for key projects such as the 1.2 million sf John B.Sanfilippo & Son and 563,000 sf Royovac battery packaging anddistribution center.

ATWELL-HICKS
(BRIGHTON, MI) Timothy Augustine,Thomas Covert, Nicholas Miller, Troy Paionk, Steven Sills and JohnThompson are welcome to the firm as new partners. Augustine owned amanagement consulting firm prior to joining the company in 2004 asvice president of corporate services. Covert joined in 1990 as asummer intern and was most recently a project manager. Millerimmediately started as a project manager in 2001 and focused hiscareer on building the largest client development. Paionkserves as the commercial team leader in the firms Napervilleoffice. In 2002, Sills was promoted to senior engineer fromproject engineer. Thompson joined in 2002 as Team Leader ofCommercial services and during his tenure turned a two-person groupinto a 13-person group supporting new and existingclients.

FELCOR LODGING TRUST
(IRVING, TX) JackMarraccini rises to senior vice president of engineering whileMelissa Kendrick becomes vice president of project management andKenneth Callihan earns vice president of corporate engineering.

STAUBACH CO.
(DENVER) Bill Byrne, Ken Gooden and Mike Rooks are namedprincipals in the local office in recognition of theirproductivity, tenure and leadership.

SPAULDING & SLYE
(BOSTON) Dale Buckley rises to executive vice president while JohnCremmen, Travis Powell and Linda Swain are accorded senior vicepresident titles. Promoted to vice president were Deb Ham, FloryMcCarthy, Barrie Ferraro, Karl Ginand, Katy Gurkin, Edie Kloss andHarvey Pendleton. The new assistant vice presidents are JenniferDaniels, Rick Schuhwerk, Tyler Spring, Kevin Mealey, HarveyPentleton, Walter Shwert and Jim Silva.

CRESCENT RESOURCES
(CHARLOTTE, NC) Brooks Boyd becomes senior vice president ofproperty management; Robert W. Duncan, senior vice president forthe Florida team; Patrick G. Emery, senior vice president inTennessee; and Henry Lomax, senior vice president of capitalmarkets.

TRAMMELL CROW CO.
(ATLANTA) Tony Kepano, national practice leader for the logisticsservices group, and Whitney Knoll, leader of the East Coast retailinvestment team, are promoted to executive vice presidents.

GRANITE PROPERTIES
(PLANO, TX) Deanna Stringer rises to senior investment analyst andWill Hendrickson becomes investments associate.

CUSHMAN & WAKEFIELD OF TEXAS
(DALLAS) Bill McClung is named executive vice president while TomSalanty and Andrea Peskind are elevated to executive directors fromsenior directors. Also promoted were Matt Heidelbaugh, who goesfrom director to senior director, and Noel Hutcheson, a newassociate director.

New Hires

GRUBB & ELLIS
(BOSTON) John Coakley joinsthe Boston firm as an advisor with the suburban office group. Coakley previously was an associate at Parsons Commercial where heworked in landlord and tenant representation with companies such asCascade Promotional Corp., New Boston Fund and PlanetFitness. Coakley was involved with lease transactionstotaling 200,000 sf.

CLAYCO
(ST. LOUIS) James O. Callaway becomesproject manager in the St. Louis office, overseeing the process ofturning design-build ideas into concrete construction. BeforeCalloway’s new position, he worked 16 years as vice president ofconstruction and design with Johnny Carino’s Italian Restaurant inAthens, GA.

OPUS
(MINNEAPOLIS) Mark Brown and Kent Gubler comeaboard Opus’ national accounts team. As directors of nationalaccounts, they will be focusing on the needs of past, current, andfuture real estate customers. Brown worked at an enterprisesoftware firm where he was client partner with Coca-Cola. Previously senior vice president for Cassidy & Pinkard, Gubleroversaw business generation in the Maryland and DC markets.

MARSHALL MANAGEMENT
(SALISBURY, MD) Newcomers Benjamin Seidel and Patrick Welton join thefirm as executives on the senior management team. Seidelsaddles up as executive vice president, after serving as seniorvice-president of operations for Philadelphia based GFManagement. Welton previously worked as revenue manager forStaybridge Suites brand, and is now responsible for revenue foreach hotel in the company’s management portfolio as the corporatedirector of revenue.

THE WILDER COMPANIES
(BOSTON) Wilder appoints twonew vice presidents, Lori A. McWeeney and Peter Bergner. Pastsenior member of the leasing team for Weiner and Associates, vicepresident of leasing McWeeney is now responsible for all retailleasing. NY attorney Bergner is now vice president ofacquisitions/site selection and leasing. Based in Palm Beach, hefocuses on developing real estate opportunities.

CRIMSON SERVICES
(DENVER) New additions BillBalkovatz and Shane Seitz join the Denver regional office.Balkovatz most recently worked as director of office leasing andacquisitions for the pauls corp. and is now the managing directorin the Denver office. Financial analyst in the Denver office,Seitz previously worked two years in residential and commercialproperty management.

SKANSKA
(BLUE BELL, PA) Skanska USA building Inc.has brought aboard William Johnson as senior director of purchasingand project controls, and William Sahwell as account manager ofpharmaceuticals, both for the Pennsylvania office. Johnsonhas more than 25 years of construction experience, and worked withcompanies such as Rutgers University, and Johnson &Johnson. Sahwell has experience working with high-profileclients such as Ortho Pharmaceutical, Bristol Meyers, JanssenPharmaceutical, and is now responsible for assisting and workingwith all pharmaceutical clients.

AZTEC
(MIAMI) Hollie Benevides becomes senioranalyst, teaming up with managing director Jason Shapiro. They will be working together to secure financing for commercialproperties, conducting market research and performing financialanalysis. Prior to joining Aztec, Benevides has five years of realestate experience.

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Tony LoPinto is the Global Sector Leader of Korn Ferry’s Real Estate Practice and founder of SelectLeaders. For the past 18 years LoPinto has been serving his clients with deep knowledge and perspective on talent needs and organizational challenges to public and private companies – knowledge gained from a 25-year career in real estate. Prior to his current position, he founded and served as chief executive officer of a boutique real estate executive search firm, where he oversaw offices in New York, Chicago, Washington, DC, San Francisco and Los Angeles. He has successfully led several high profile search engagements for chief executive officers, directors and a wide-range of executive level positions across all industries and sectors. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in European history from Loyola University in Chicago.