Perspective

Donald Trump, our favorite "terminator", is on this week's cover of Business Week, highlighting the lead story, "Fear of Firing". It's all about how hard, and financially perilous, it is to fire an underperforming, or even worse, virtually useless employee. The point of the article is that, increasingly, employers, admonished by their HR and legal teams, are reticent to deal with real performance issues for fear of litigation. Unfortunately, more often than not, the root of the issue is that managers fail to properly document performance matters and shy away from discussions with subordinates regarding their poor performance, or conducting documented evaluation sessions with them. The result is problem employees gain the upper hand, especially if he or she is among the growing lineup of individuals in "protected" categories. The lesson here for managers is that an ounce of prevention is worth twice the litigious cure.

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

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SPONSORED

SUNRISE SENIOR LIVING INC.
 (WALNUT CREEK, CA) Real Estate Director-EntitlementsThis executive will bring strong entitlements/permit experience and capability to the Northwest development team, covering Northern California, Oregon, Washington, Hawaii, British Columbia and Alberta, Canada.

JPI
(CARLSBAD, CA) Vice President, Acquisitions Leading the acquisitions team, the selected candidate will manage responsibilities to ensure the successful implementation of strategic plans designed for market growth and presence.

CNL FINANCIAL GROUP
 (ORLANDO, FL) Controller/Private Partnership/REIT Accounting Oversee all aspects of accounting for private partnerships (or REITS), including the supervision of accounting staff, coordination with SBU leaders, review of PPM documents and compliance reporting, among other duties.

MERRILL LYNCH CAPITAL
 (CHICAGO) Underwriter_Healthcare Real Estate Finance The hire will work in conjunction with the origination team responsible for the structuring, underwriting and closing of healthcare real estate loans secured by skilled nursing facilities, assisted living facilities, independent living facilities and medical office buildings.

HOTEL FINANCIAL STRATEGIES
 (BEVERLY HILLS, CA) Sr. Vice President-Marketing The company is looking for an experienced executive who has been involved in major financial transactions within the hospitality industry. The person must be familiar with the intricacies of the hotel financial markets.

ACTUS LEND LEASE RETAIL & COMMUNITIES
 (NASHVILLE) Project Director Responsible for the overall physical management and delivery of each project within his/her portfolio in a timely manner with the primary objective to implement and manage to completion consistent with the annual business plan and maximize returns.

DBSI-DISCOVERY REAL ESTATE SERVICES
 (WASHINGTON, DC) Director of Acquisitions The position deals with the daily sourcing, underwriting, and closing of deals in selected markets. Markets are assigned by the VP. This role works independently but reports regularly to the VP regarding deal status, market development, and relationship building.

SELECTLEADERS
 (LAS VEGAS) Legal Counsel-Real Estate The ideal candidate will have a proven track record of commercial real estate transaction, acquisition, disposition and/or development work to go along with oral and written communication skills.

Promotions

NNN APARTMENT REIT INC.
(SANTA ANA, CA) Scott D. Peters earns a director's seat on the board and becomes a member of the executive committee. The veteran is executive vice president of the REIT and CFO of NNN Apartment REIT Advisor LLC.

HILB ROGAL & HOBBS
(SAN FRANCISCO) David M. Hofele is made president of the San Francisco Bay Area operations.

STRATEGIC HOTELS & RESORTS
(CHICAGO) Kenneth Fisher, senior partner in Fisher Brothers, takes a seat on the board of directors for the hospitality group.

CB RICHARD ELLIS
(CHICAGO and NASHVILLE) Kyle Kamin, 30 years old, becomes the youngest professional in the local office to be named senior vice president. The former first vice president joined the firm in 1999. In Nashville, James Ashley Compton rises to senior associate from associate as he marks his third year with the company.

NEWMARK KNIGHT FRANK PROPERTY MANAGEMENT
(NEW YORK CITY) Michael Prunty, formerly senior director, rises to portfolio manager for several owned and third-party accounts. Diane Fields becomes building manager of 1350 Broadway in Downtown Manhattan after four years as an assistant property manager. Peter Troisi, previously a superintendent, is made building manager for 520 Eighth Ave.

AVALONBAY COMMUNITIES
(ALEXANDRIA, VA) Kevin O'Shea becomes senior vice president as he marks his fourth year with the company. In addition, Richard Borowski, Karen Hollinger and Rob Salkovitz were promoted to vice president.

PKF CONSULTING
(ATLANTA) Scott Smith climbs to senior vice president from vice president after nine years with the company.

NEXT REALTY MIDWEST
(NORTHBROOK, IL) Matthew Silvers, principal, has been named managing broker of the Midwest affiliate of Next Realty LLC.

New Hires

EASTDIL SECURED
(SAN DIEGO) Lisa Widmier joins as a managing director. She most recently was an executive vice president for CB Richard Ellis, specializing in senior housing investment sales and recapitalizations. Coming with her is Sean McNee, formerly CBRE's lead senior housing financial analyst.

COLLIERS ABOOD-FAY
(CORAL GABLES, FL) Christian Johannsen joins as senior vice president, becoming part of the investment sales and finance team of the Abood-Wood Fay Real Estate Group LLC division. He previously was at Aztec Group, rising to managing director. His partner at Aztec, Susan M. Traino, starts as vice president.

SL GREEN REALTY CORP.
(NEW YORK CITY) The firm picks up three veterans from Reckson Associates Realty Corp. plus promotes one employee to a newly created position. William S. Elder joins as senior vice president of leasing; Christopher Gulden as vice president of leasing; and Denise Rodriguez as leasing associate. Melissa M. Libener is made marketing director after working for six years for the firm's subsidiary, eEmerge, where she rose to managing director.

PAUL, HASTINGS, JANOFSKY & WALKER LLP
(LOS ANGELES) Jeffrey Haber is named partner in the real estate practice. A leading attorney in land use and real estate transactions, he previously was with Latham & Watkins.

PM REALTY GROUP
(DALLAS) Becky Powell starts as general manager of operations in the local office. She previously was senior property manager for Merit Texas Properties.

BARTON MALOW CO.
(PHOENIX) Maisha Christian starts as marketing coordinator.

MARCUS & MILLICHAP
(HOUSTON) Mark Hendricks comes on board as senior associate and director of the national multi-housing group and Peter Dunn as senior director of Marcus & Millichap Capital Corp.

EQUIS CORP.
(SAN FRANCISCO) Brian Gleason, Andrew Hueser and Erik Stonesifer, formerly a Trammell Crow Co. team, will partner on tenant representation and portfolio management for office and industrial corporate users. Gleason is named senior vice president; Hueser is vice president; and Stonesifer is a senior associate.

TRANSWESTERN
(CHICAGO) Stacey Kruger Birndorf comes on board as executive vice president of tenant advisory services.

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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.