Executive Watch

Perspective

The market for talent has been robust (to say the least) over the past two years and, as the heat has increased, employers’ strategies to retain key players have kept pace. Conventional wisdom for employees was always, “Don’t consider a counter offer” because if you did, you’d eventually pay the price for your lapse in loyalty and get the boot. However, today this way of thinking may not be quite as clear-cut as it was historically. We have witnessed a sea change in employers’ attitudes and how aggressively they handle the threat of resignations. For the A-players, salary grids are thrown out the window; current employers ante-up more equity and map out an expanded role with greater financial reward to keep top employees firmly planted in their chairs. Employers realize they must be aggressive in retention or they will be forced back into the open market. Meanwhile, some employees, we have found will take the bait, leaving a fully negotiated counter offer on the table, despite the concern that their decision may indeed backfire and come back to haunt them when the markets turn again.

Tony 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 are the author’s own.

Job Opportunities

STOLTZ REAL ESTATE PARTNERS
(PENNSYLVANIA) Director – Financial Due Diligence This senior role is responsible for timely preparation and review of potential acquisitions/dispositions and/or refinancing of office, industrial and/or retail. Qualified candidates will be quick learners and self-starters with the ability to be actively involved in the financial due-diligence process.

CCIM INSTITUTE
(ILLINOIS) Vice President of Marketing and Sales The VP will develop, implement and execute marketing strategies, plans and opportunities to maximize the number of students entering into and completing the CCIM education program, and in collaboration with the senior director of customer service, will execute member recruitment plans to retain and increase the CCIM membership.

COLE COS.
(ARIZONA) Portfolio Analyst
The portfolio analyst shall report to the director of portfolio management and will be actively involved in analyzing, monitoring, projecting and reporting property and portfolio information to senior management and external parties.

ING CLARION PARTNERS
(CALIFORNIA) Development Manager--L.A. The ideal candidate will be a hands-on self-starter skilled in financial analysis and experienced in the negotiation and management of development projects, including joint ventures. All candidates should have eight-plus years of experience in project management, construction and development.

SELECTLEADERS
(NEW YORK) VP Portfolio Management, RE Investment Management Group The vice president of portfolio management will represent the company’s interest in assets where it owns a partial economic interest. He/she will proactively assess, develop, implement and exploit opportunities to positively impact the firm’s asset portfolio value through joint venture and leasehold investment management.

TRAMMELL CROW CO.
(CALIFORNIA) Vice President – Land Acquisition The vice president of land acquisition will identify and inventory available multifamily land, vacant and/or with improvements, on which residential development can occur under existing or future land use and zoning designations.

SELECTLEADERS
(NEW JERSEY) Senior Financial Analyst/Project Associate Our client has acquired the redevelopment rights to a 50-plus acre oceanfront tract of land in central New Jersey. Reporting to the controller and working with the partners, the financial analyst/project associate will be primarily involved in managing both the long- and short-term financial projections for the redevelopment project.

Promotions

STUDLEY (IRVINE, CA, HOUSTON) Kelly Givens rises to executive managing director from senior managing director. The firm also hires Jay L. Bonano as senior managing director in Houston. He previously was a senior broker for CB Richard Ellis.

TRAMMELL CROW CO.
(AUSTIN) Amanda Darnell is made a project manager while Kasey Pfuntner and Kerry Kern earn slots as property managers.

BARTON MALOW CO.
(PHOENIX) Lance Guerzon and Roger Stadler become project managers and Clay Creaser is elevated to project engineer 1.

JONES LANG LASALLE
(LOS ANGELES) Cheri Pierce rises to vice president for the capital markets group. The veteran is part of the West Capital Markets Group in the Century City office.

CRESA PARTNERS
(CHICAGO) Christopher Wood and Michael W. Bishop, each with 19 years' experience, are named co-managing partners.

CASSIDY & PINKARD COLLIERS
(WASHINGTON, DC) Kerri Mulligan becomes assistant vice president after three years with the firm.

CB RICHARD ELLIS
(ORLANDO, NEW YORK CITY) David Murphy rises to senior vice president, becoming the only industrial broker in the Orlando office's history to earn the title. In New York City, Silvio Petriello, marking his seventh year in the business, also earns a promotion to senior vice president from first vice president.

New Hires

MEREDITH & GREW
(BOSTON) Matthew J. Daniels joins the company as senior vice president in the Suburban Brokerage group. He previously spent 10 years at Jones Lang LaSalle (formerly Spaulding & Slye), most recently as vice president.

TRUMP MORTGAGE
(NEW YORK CITY) Lee Bienstock begins as an associate vice president in charge of corporate development. The 22-year-old, a one-time "Apprentice" cast member, previously worked for Merrill Lynch.

HARTMAN MANAGEMENT
(HOUSTON) Dave Holeman comes on board as CFO. Most recently, he was vice president and CFO of Gexa Energy.

SKANSKA USA BUILDING INC.
(BLUE BELL, PA) Jeffrey Nicholas starts as senior vice president and account manager for the headquarters office and Parsippany, NJ. He also was named a member of the national healthcare center division.

COLLIERS MACAULAY NICOLLS INC.
(WARSAW) Guy Pinsent, a former diplomat in the British Embassy in Warsaw, becomes head of business development.

EQUIS CORP.
(DETROIT) Joe Rosenberg, with 20 years' experience in the metro, is named senior vice president to join the firm. He most recently was senior director for Cushman & Wakefield Inc.

STAUBACH CO.
(MEMPHIS) Russ Westlake starts as senior vice president and managing principal for the three-month-old office. His focus is developing the office division, with co-managing director Patrick Burke focusing on the industrial group. Westlake spent the past 15 years at the Weston Cos., rising to executive vice president.

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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.