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 age group isan 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 creates significantpresent-day issues for organizations that want and need a blend oftalent on their teams, especially to occupy the second chair, toleverage leadership and fulfill succession plans. The problem hasreached epic proportions, as capital flows continue to fuelinvestment and development activity. In response, we see the gapbeing filled increasingly by late-stage career professionals whopreviously may have been viewed as too old to recruit but now arerecognized as delivering extraordinary experience and the abilityto hit the ground running. These seasoned pros also providesignificant organizational leverage for growing and grooming theyoung talent that has flooded real estate, suddenly a trendyalternative 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 from senior projectmanagers to project executives. Winger is a registered professionalengineer in the state of Iowa and has been with the company since1998. Thomas managed construction for the Lakeshore Medical Centerin Chicago and received "Outstanding Project Manager of 2005-06."Before his promotion, Osman worked as manager for key projects suchas the 1.2 million sf John B. Sanfilippo & Son and 563,000 sfRoyovac battery packaging and distribution 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. Paionk serves asthe commercial team leader in the firms Naperville office. In 2002,Sills was promoted to senior engineer from project engineer.Thompson joined in 2002 as Team Leader of Commercial services andduring his tenure turned a two-person group into a 13-person groupsupporting new and existing clients.

FELCOR LODGING TRUST
(IRVING, TX)Jack Marraccini rises to senior vice president ofengineering while Melissa Kendrick becomes vicepresident of project management and KennethCallihan earns vice president of corporateengineering.

STAUBACH CO.
(DENVER) Bill Byrne, Ken Gooden and MikeRooks are named principals in the local office inrecognition of their productivity, tenure and leadership.

SPAULDING & SLYE
(BOSTON) Dale Buckley rises to executive vicepresident while John Cremmen, Travis Powell andLinda Swain are accorded senior vice presidenttitles. Promoted to vice president were Deb Ham, FloryMcCarthy, Barrie Ferraro, Karl Ginand, Katy Gurkin, EdieKloss and Harvey Pendleton. The newassistant vice presidents are Jennifer Daniels, RickSchuhwerk, Tyler Spring, Kevin Mealey, Harvey Pentleton, WalterShwert and Jim Silva.

CRESCENT RESOURCES
(CHARLOTTE, NC) Brooks Boyd becomes senior vicepresident of property management; Robert W.Duncan, senior vice president for the Florida team;Patrick G. Emery, senior vice president inTennessee; and Henry Lomax, senior vice presidentof capital markets.

TRAMMELL CROW CO.
(ATLANTA) Tony Kepano, national practice leaderfor the logistics services group, and WhitneyKnoll, leader of the East Coast retail investment team,are promoted to executive vice presidents.

GRANITE PROPERTIES
(PLANO, TX) Deanna Stringer rises to seniorinvestment analyst and Will Hendrickson becomesinvestments associate.

CUSHMAN & WAKEFIELD OF TEXAS
(DALLAS) Bill McClung is named executive vice president whileTom Salanty and Andrea Peskindare elevated to executive directors from senior directors. Alsopromoted were Matt Heidelbaugh, who goes fromdirector to senior director, and Noel Hutcheson, anew associate director.

New Hires

GRUBB & ELLIS
(BOSTON) John Coakley joins theBoston firm as an advisor with the suburban office group. Coakleypreviously was an associate at Parsons Commercial where he workedin landlord and tenant representation with companies such asCascade Promotional Corp., New Boston Fund and Planet Fitness.Coakley was involved with lease transactions totaling 200,000sf.

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) NewcomersBenjamin Seidel and Patrick Welton join the firm as executives onthe senior management team. Seidel saddles up as executive vicepresident, after serving as senior vice-president of operations forPhiladelphia based GF Management. Welton previously worked asrevenue manager for Staybridge Suites brand, and is now responsiblefor revenue for each hotel in the company's management portfolio asthe corporate director 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, Seitzpreviously worked two years in residential and commercial propertymanagement.

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. Johnson has morethan 25 years of construction experience, and worked with companiessuch as Rutgers University, and Johnson & Johnson. Sahwell hasexperience working with high-profile clients such as OrthoPharmaceutical, Bristol Meyers, Janssen Pharmaceutical, and is nowresponsible for assisting and working with all pharmaceuticalclients.

AZTEC
(MIAMI) Hollie Benevides becomes senioranalyst, teaming up with managing director Jason Shapiro. They willbe working together to secure financing for commercial properties,conducting market research and performing financial analysis. Priorto joining Aztec, Benevides has five years of real estateexperience.

Continue Reading for Free

Breaking commercial real estate news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
Critical coverage of the property casualty insurance and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, PropertyCasualty360 and ThinkAdvisor

NOT FOR REPRINT

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.