Cassidy Turley named Joseph Stettinius Jr. as the company's new CEO.
Stettinius will lead the operations of Cassidy Turley serving as CEO and president—a role he held previously. He succeeds Mark Burkhart, who will serve as an ongoing advisor to the company.
Based in Cassidy Turley's Washington office, Stettinius has more than 25 years in commercial real estate leadership roles, including 13 years at Trammell Crow, which was acquired by CBRE Group.
He served as president of Cassidy Turley since the company's inception in August 2008. From March 2007 to February 2010, he was CEO of predecessor firm Cassidy & Pinkard Colliers. Prior to that, Stettinius served as senior managing director of CBRE Group as a result of its acquisition of Trammell Crow, where he was area director for Trammell Crow's Mid-Atlantic services business. Stettinius also held executive positions at Equity Office Properties Trust and Jones Lang Wootton, a predecessor firm to Jones Lang LaSalle.
Burkhart will serve as an advocate for the company, its strategy and its leadership. He also will be available as a resource to maintain relationships with clients, shareholders and financial partners and will continue to assist with recruiting new talent.
In other company news, Cassidy Turley hired Thomas Traugott to the New York office as senior vice president, data center solutions group.
In his new role, Traugott will expand Cassidy Turley’s data center solutions group to service investors and occupants via comparative market and new development analysis, transactional consulting, owner-operator advisory as well as site acquisition services. Prior to joining Cassidy Turley, he was a principal at Data Center & Colocation Strategic Advisory Services,
NREI talked to Stettinius about how his leadership style differs from his predecessor, what his goals are for the future and what he’s learned throughout his career. An edited version of that interview follows.
NREI: How do you see your leadership style as different from that of Mr. Burkhart? How is it the same?
Joseph Stettinius: Our leadership styles are different in that I am more focused on how we can take advantage of changes impacting the industry, such as technology and shifts in demographics and the economy. Mark has been more focused on how we can continue to leverage our past successes.
I believe we need to study our competitors because we must know them so we can learn from them and differentiate ourselves from them. Mark has been more internally focused.
Our leadership styles are similar in that we both welcome continuous change and embrace the ensuing challenges as opportunities, not threats.
NREI: What's your primary goal with Cassidy Turley as you take the reins?
Joseph Stettinius: I will continue to focus on expanding Cassidy Turley’s capabilities and refining our platform to provide exceptional value and service to our clients. We expect to enter additional strategic markets as well as enhance our capabilities in existing markets. We will continue with our mission of providing integrated services, from strategic planning to execution, that are creative, cost-effective and tailored to our clients’ specific real estate needs while enhancing their business performance.
Also, it is a high priority for the company to continue creating a best-in-class infrastructure to support our growth and better serve our clients.
NREI: What issue do you see coming up as the year draws to a close that will have the biggest impact on the commercial real estate industry and why?
Joseph Stettinius: There are a number of major changes that are impacting and will continue to impact the commercial real estate industry. The first without question is technology. Technology is changing the way tenants use space. The CRE industry will need to incorporate robust knowledge management systems to truly understand both clients and how to best use space. That means investing in and incorporating new technologies.
Additionally, our clients increasingly are going to require us to prove our ROI by measuring and benchmarking our performance. A second and related requirement of the industry is encouraging a culture that embraces new paradigms as they manifest and never underestimating the impact that technology will have on how and where we work.
This philosophy must be used in every area of commercial real estate services: from brokers using the latest technology to provide customized information for clients to being on the cutting edge of workplace optimization technologies; and from maximizing social media efforts to communicate with clients and prospects to using the most sophisticated models to forecast shifts in the economy and demographics. The firms that both adopt the right technology and get the culture right will have a clear advantage in the market.
A third and unrelated issue impacts our entire economy, and that’s the looming fiscal cliff. Odds are that Congress will reach some deal that will avert or postpone the fiscal cliff, but until we actually see an agreement, anything is possible. Under the fiscal cliff scenario, we could see vacancy rates rise by 20 basis points next year, but with a compromise, we could see vacancy rates fall by 70 basis points nationwide.
NREI: Now that you've reached this level - what advice would you have given to your younger self as you were just starting out in the industry?
Joseph Stettinius: I would have told myself to forget the notion that if nobody else wants to fill a particular role, it must not be worth doing. Rather, you should take advantage of the situation by filling a void that exists. By doing this, you will increase your value to a company immeasurably.
Also, I would have given myself the advice to find an executive-level mentor who takes an interest in your success. Mentors give you an opportunity to develop executive-level skills, provide candid feedback and access to valuable relationships, expand your knowledge and perspectives of the industry and help you identify effective career enhancement strategies that will support career growth.
Lastly, I would have told myself that relationships and networking are incredibly important in the commercial real estate industry because you encounter the same people over and over again. And people do business with those they know, like and trust.
Newmark Grubb Knight Frank merged with the leadership of Helios Capital Advisors, a boutique capital markets advisory firm
Steven Schultz, Helios’ founding member and CEO, will lead the expansion of NGKF Capital Group in New Jersey, working with David Simson, vice chairman/COO of the New Jersey operations. He brings with him a team of professionals specializing in the disposition of commercial mortgage loans, banks’ real estate owned and privately owned investment properties throughout the Northeast.
In his career Schultz has completed negotiations and transactions involving more than 8 million sq. ft. of real estate, with an aggregate trade value of $8 billion. He joins NGKF as executive managing director, and will continue to lead the six-person team he assembled at Helios.
The other former Helios professionals making the transition to NGKF include Josh Malka, director; Tony Georgiev, director; and Joseph Villani, associate. The team will operate from the NGKF offices in Rutherford, N.J., and New York City.
NewOak appointed Donald McGuire as COO and head of investment banking.
McGuire joins NewOak with more than 27 years of unique experience in finance and operations at major investment banking, pharmaceutical, and technology companies around the globe. Most recently, McGuire was with KDM Advisors in Greenwich, Conn., where he was managing partner. There he worked with founders, shareholders, boards and management teams to develop or restructure their companies.
The Rainmaker Group appointed Tom Barham as CFO for the provider of revenue management and profit optimization solutions for the multifamily housing and gaming/hospitality industries.
Barham will optimize capital structures, raise capital and improve and enhance the company’s financial reporting, budgeting and forecasting capabilities.
Barham served a variety of companies in his 25 years prior to joining Rainmaker. During his tenure as CFO for Miller Auto Parts & Supply Co., a wholesale distributor, he completed $30 million in refinancing of a senior asset-based credit facility, $9 million in refinancing of subordinated debt and the successful divestures of three major subsidiary businesses, and major restructuring of remaining operations.
Mack-Cali Realty Corp. appointed Anthony Krug as its chief accounting officer.
Krug previously served as senior vice president, finance. Krug is responsible for Mack-Cali’s corporate consolidation and financial accounting matters, as well as financial compliance, accounting integration of mergers and acquisitions, cash management and the financial reporting requirements of the firm.
Krug has been with Mack-Cali and its predecessor companies for more than 25 years and has previously held positions of vice president, finance and controller.
United Realty Partners appointed Leonard Toboroff to the company’s board of directors.
Toboroff, a member of the New York Bar and a practicing attorney since 1961, is a director of ENJEX Corp., a closed-end mutual fund. Since April 2006 he has been a director of NOVT Corp., a former developer of advanced medical treatments for coronary and vascular disease.
He has also held posts at Asset Alliance Corp., Steel Partners Acquisition Corp., Corinthian Capital Group LLC, Allis-Chalmers Energy Inc., Varsity Brands Inc., American Bakeries Co., Ameriscribe Corp. and Saratoga Spring Water Co.
DTZ, a UGL Co., appointed Nicholas Westley as president – global corporate services.
He will be based at the DTZ global headquarters in Los Angeles, reporting to Robert Shibuya, group president, DTZ.
Westley joins DTZ from Johnson Controls, where he most recently led the firm's global real estate and project management services. Prior to JCI's acquisition of United Systems Integrators in 2005, he was USI's Chief Strategy Officer, responsible for the firm's merger and acquisition, service offering diversification and geographic expansion initiatives.
Walker & Dunlop Inc. brought on John Pantone to the firm as senior vice president in the capital markets department.
Pantone has more than 25 years of experience in commercial real estate and a strong background in equity structured finance. He will focus on financing all types of income-producing properties including office, residential, hospitality, industrial and retail in the Midwest region, and will also work with clients to find equity partners.
Pantone comes to Walker & Dunlop from ARC Property Trust where he worked as regional director and was responsible for acquisitions of net lease retail properties.
Marcus & Millichap Real Estate Investment Services promoted Steven J. Siegel to first vice president investments.
This is one of the highest levels of recognition the firm awards to its investment specialists. Most recently, Siegel held the title of vice president investments. He is also a senior director of the firm’s national retail group and net leased properties group.
After being named an associate of the firm in June 2000, Siegel was promoted to senior associate in June 2001 and to vice president investments in January 2008.
Colliers International South Florida welcomed Donna Miller to the firm’s receivership solutions group as vice president.
Miller has worked for 24 years as a real estate attorney with extensive knowledge of legal and real estate issues, including expertise in representing real estate developers, lenders and the Resolution Trust Corp.
Prior to joining Colliers, Miller was a real estate associate, partner and of counsel to several large law firms in Miami and Fort Lauderdale working in their real estate and banking departments. She worked extensively with developers in the acquisition, financing, development, leasing, and sale of commercial and residential real estate. She also has considerable experience in the sale and workouts of real estate from failed savings and loan institutions.
The Sembler Co. welcomes Charlie Heard as the vice president of development and Southeast market leader based in Atlanta.
Heard’s will pursue new shopping center development opportunities in Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia. He has been involved in dozens of development projects for retailers such as Publix, Kroger, Target, Home Depot, Best Buy, CVS and Walgreen's.
Heitman LLC appointed David Stubbs as global macro strategy analyst and Jacques Perdrix as vice president in the European listed securities’ investment management team.
Both are employed at the company’s London office.
David Stubbs joins Heitman from Roubini Global Economics, where he worked in both London and New York as an asset allocation strategist. He will focus primarily on global macro/strategy analysis and will help further enhance the team’s risk management capabilities.
Perdrix will focus primarily on the European listed real estate securities market including fundamental industry, company and stock analysis. Before joining Heitman, he worked with Griffin CM in London as an investment analyst and assistant portfolio manager.
CBRE promoted Kyle Kamin to executive vice president within the Chicago office occupier practice group.
Kamin has become the youngest professional in the firm to hold such a title, just as he did in 2006 when he became the firm’s youngest senior vice president. Over his career, he has managed more than 16 million sq. ft. of real estate transactions valued at more than $7 billion.
Avison Young, opened a new office in Detroit, the firm’s 18th location outside of Canada.
James (Jim) Becker joins Avison Young as a principal and managing director of the Detroit office. A 28-year commercial real estate industry veteran, he was most recently international director and president of the Canadian practice for Jones Lang LaSalle.
In his new role at Avison Young, Becker will focus on overseeing the growth and development of Avison Young’s presence in Detroit, as well as servicing new and existing clients and managing the day-to-day operations of the office. He will also focus on opening Greenfield offices in Minneapolis and further expanding the Avison Young brand in Ohio.
AY also acquired The Walsh Co. LLC, a multi-service advisory organization specializing in project management services throughout New York, New Jersey, Boston and Washington, DC.
The change in ownership will add 53 employees to Avison Young’s operations.
Edward S. Walsh, founder and president of The Walsh Co., and Thomas J. Walsh, managing principal at Walsh, join Avison Young as principals.
Before founding The Walsh Co. in 2003, Edward Walsh worked for more than 10 years as a senior vice president at Gale & Wentworth, a diversified real estate investment and services firm. He began his career with Boswell Engineering and also previously held positions with Bomar Builders.
Thomas Walsh has more than 35 years of industry experience and has constructed and developed more than 35 million sq. ft. of properties throughout his career, including such projects as One Lincoln Street in Boston; The Center of Morris County in Parsippany, N.J.; and Park Avenue of Morris County in Florham Park, N.J.
Other executives joining AY through the merger include: Brian Tobiasz, senior vice president of operations; Christopher Richter, senior vice president of development; John Mercurio, vice president of construction; Tracey Kasper, vice president of project management; and Lisa Addeo, vice president of finance. Kevin Daly, who heads The Walsh Company’s Boston office, will also continue in his role at Avison Young.
The Shopping Center Group promoted Gregg Katz to director of innovation and technology.
Katz will be responsible for guiding the real estate advisory firm through advances in geographic information systems, electronic communication, database management, social media and technology.
He joined the firm in 2006 as a tenant representative working with national and regional retailers and restaurant chains. He was also involved in the launch and subsequent sale of a mobile application business focused on food allergens.