Dyer, a British citizen based in Washington, DC, is currently CEO of WorldWide Retail Exchange, an Internet-based exchange owned by 40 of the world's largest retailers and manufacturers, a position he has held since 2000. Before that, he was CEO of Courtaulds Textiles, a clothing and textile company operating in 17 countries. He will relocate his primary office to Chicago in the fall.
Dyer tells GlobeSt.com that his first order of business after taking the helm will be to visit as many parts of the operation as possible, meeting staff, clients and investors. It will mean a lot of travel: currently the company operates in about 100 markets. "A very strong foundation has been laid, particularly in the last four years, as the LaSalle business, and the Jones Lang business in Europe, have come together to form a global platform," he says.
Like any new CEO worth his salt, Dyer plans a growth trajectory for Jones Lang LaSalle. "We have some growing back to do, in our operations in Europe and Asia-Pacific, to bring [them] back to their traditional levels of return," he says. "We're not talking necessarily about growth in numbers of countries, or geographical reach. That we have already. It's growing the business we already have in place, investment management and corporate services.
"Currently, there's a lot of money available for investment in real estate, so finding funds is not a big issue in the short term, but acquiring properties that will provide those funds with determined levels of returns over the life of the funds will be a critical area in which we need to put resources," he continues. "In corporate services, there are two challenges. you have to acquire clients which we've been very good at lately--but then you have to execute."According to Scott, Dyer is the man for the job--in the unanimous opinion of the search committee of the board of directors. "We wanted somebody with international experience and outlook, somebody who's a good strategic thinker and who has successfully run a public company, and somebody who could articulate our strategy to our people and investors," he tells GlobeSt.com. "Colin's name came up early in the process, in March, among a rich field of candidates, both internal and external. But the person who best filled our spec sheet was Colin."
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