Perspective

Last week, the Wall Street Journal reported that hiring on college and university campuses is up, a sure indication that employers are diving back into the fountain of youth this year. In fact, according to a study by the National Association of Colleges and Universities, employers plan to hire 17% more graduates from the class of '07 than last year, and the competition is fierce among all industries. For example, Deloitte & Touche alone is reported to be hiring 3,300 graduates. This competition is bad news for real estate, which has chronically lagged behind investment banks, technology companies and blue-chip consulting firms in attracting the top talent. We need to address this together as an industry because of the acute need to develop more and better talent. How? Well, realizing the need, many major real estate associations--in a program we are coordinating--are now proactively addressing this issue by offering intern job postings on their websites free of charge, to help drive the development of more and better internship programs. Such intern programs are a powerful tool for attracting potential employees early and providing an opportunity for training and learning the corporate culture. Often, such relationships translate into a full-time offer upon graduation.

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

WYNDHAM HOTELS
 (ATLANTA) Vice President Global Sales-Eastern Division The hire will manage a team of global sales directors and sales support staff to drive revenue for hotel group portfolio of properties.

FIRST INDUSTRIAL REALTY TRUST
 (ROSEMONT, IL) Senior Investment Analyst Responsibilities include financial analysis and economic modeling to assess viability and profitability of potential acquisitions. Additional responsibilities will include market research, preparation of written presentation material to senior management and more.

DIVIDEND CAPITAL
 (DENVER) Acquisition Analyst The general role is to underwrite, evaluate, document, finance, and close direct real estate investments that meet our acquisition criteria.

AIMCO
(SAN MATEO, CA) Vice President of Construction Northwest Reporting to the senior vice president of construction-west, this individual will build, manage and direct construction practices throughout the Northwest.

BLACKROCK
(FLORHAM PARK, NJ) Director, Real Estate Product Management The hire will oversee all aspects of the product management team, which includes training and oversight, quality control and design and implementation of streamlined internal processes, procedures and delivery systems

HOLLIDAY FENOGLIO FOWLER LP
 (SAN DIEGO) Real Estate Analyst The hire will prepare real estate investment sales packages and submissions for presentation to buyers, respond to questions about the process while resolving underwriting issues and more.

ING REAL ESTATE FINANCE (USA) LLC
 (NEW YORK CITY) Analyst The company is seeking someone to assist in a variety of operational and finance activities for our domestic real estate loan portfolio, reporting directly to the head of operations.

Promotions

BIRTCHER ANDERSON PROPERTIES
(SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO, CA) Kathryn A. Leigh becomes director of property operations for the Southern California and Nevada staff. Leigh previously was regional manager.

MCKINLEY
(ANN ARBOR, MI) Marc E. Stein rises to national leasing director after leading the Michigan leasing team. He replaces Matthew D. Mason, who was named vice president and director of sales and acquisitions.

MARCUS & MILLICHAP
(SACRAMENTO) Daniel Kapic is promoted to sales manager after two years with the firm.

CBRE/MELODY
(BOSTON) Frank Petz rises to managing director of the office after two years with the firm, most recently as senior director.

CB RICHARD ELLIS
(NEW YORK CITY, NASHVILLE) Keith Braddish becomes managing director while Michael Sherman and Geoff Rice rise to senior directors and Jason Gaccione is made a vice president in the New York City office. In Nashville, Douglass Johnson earns a berth as senior vice president from first vice president.

CUSHMAN & WAKEFIELD
(EAST RUTHERFORD, NJ) David Wolf is made senior analyst after less than a year with the firm.

GALE CONSTRUCTION
(ROSELAND, NJ) The company promotes Gabe Sasso to senior vice president; Robert Van Schepen and Kevin Herb to vice president; Christos Koutsokoumnis, controller and vice president; John Brucker, project executive; and Sabina Certa Carlin, director of client services.

New Hires

HREC INVESTMENT ADVISORS
(BOCA RATON, FL) Ronald C. Muzii Jr. joins as senior vice president in the recently established South Florida office. He also owns the Boca Raton Bridge Hotel, a 125-key waterfront boutique property.

FIRST INDUSTRIAL REALTY TRUST
(CLEVELAND) Alex J. Pacella takes the helm as regional manager, coming on board from Grubb & Ellis Co. where he was vice president of marketing institutional-quality real estate in northern Ohio.

WESTPORT CAPITAL PARTNERS
(WESTPORT, CT) In February, Jack Rodman comes on board as senior adviser to source real estate and distressed asset investment in China.

CUSHMAN & WAKEFIELD
(EAST RUTHERFORD, NJ) John Luongo starts as senior director. The retail and land development pro spent the past 10 years at Grubb & Ellis Co., rising to senior vice president of retail sales.

MAGELLAN COMMERCIAL REALTY
(DALLAS) Brandon Rutledge joins as vice president for land disposition and investment-grade transactions. He most recently was part of the AmeriSouth Realty Group team.

TRANSWESTERN
(HOUSTON) Margaret Ann Cook and Valerie Palmquist start as broker associates with the tenant advisory group. Cook previously was with Cushman & Wakefield of Texas Inc. and Palmquist was with the Staubach Co.

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Anthony J. LoPinto

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.