Veronica W. “Ronne” Hackett has joined Brookfield Office Properties (NYSE, TSX: BPO) as senior vice president of development for U.S. commercial operations. In this role, she will oversee the company’s 9.6 million sq. ft. development pipeline that includes properties in New York, Washington, D.C., Houston, Los Angeles and Denver. Hackett also will pursue new development opportunities in the company’s core U.S. markets.

New York-based Brookfield Office Properties owns, develops and manages premier office properties in the United States, Canada and Australia. Its portfolio includes interests in 109 properties totaling more than 78 million sq. ft. in the downtown cores of several major cities.

“Ronne Hackett is a noted leader in both the New York City and national real estate community with an impressive history of developing Class-A properties,” says Dennis Friedrich, president and CEO of U.S. commercial operations for Brookfield Office Properties. “Her talent and experience will be an important asset to advancing our development efforts.”

Hackett has more than 25 years of experience in various executive-level positions in commercial real estate. Most recently, she was the co-founder and managing partner of The Clarett Group, a New York-based real estate company that develops mixed-use properties in urban areas. Founded in 2000, the Clarett Group completed nine high-rise buildings in New York.

Prior to founding the Clarett Group, Hackett spent 10 years as executive vice president of Park Tower Realty, a New York office building development company. She was a key executive in developing signature iconic office buildings including headquarter buildings for J.P. Morgan and IBM Corp.

In addition to Hackett’s work as a private sector developer, she has been a leading corporate real estate executive in the U.S. and Europe, a real estate pension fund asset manager, a real estate lender, and a senior vice president of a major money center bank.

Crain’s New York Business listed Hackett as one of the city’s 100 most influential women in business. The New York Observer named Hackett one of the 100 most important people in real estate.

Hackett received her MBA in finance from New York University and a bachelor’s degree in history and economics from the College of Notre Dame of Maryland.

Brookfield’s stock price closed Friday, March 4 at $17.50 per share, up from $14.06 a year earlier on the New York Stock Exchange.