Most recently a principal with Strategic Realty Advisors, Monaghan acquired and oversaw new development opportunities, including existing buildings and ground-up development. His experience in living in London and Hong Kong, which once may have defied conventional wisdom, now dovetails with current needs and attitudes.

“Thirty years ago, I worked for IBM, and expressed interest in working internationally,” at a time when foreign experience was actually considered a career detour, Monaghan recalls. “Typically now, if a CEO doesn’t have international experience, he’s sent overseas.”

Monaghan will be able to utilize all of CBRE’s different divisions and capabilities – even those in CBRE’s offices around the globe. Asia is of particular interest, as smaller cities continue to grow. “China is fundamentally developed, and [growth] is moving west to capital cities,” Monaghan says. “Chengdu is a new frontier.”

Even as international corporations are seeking US locations, so too are American companies and even universities looking for sites abroad, both note. “I find that real estate executives fall into two types – those who have lived overseas, or those who are neophytes and need help,” Monaghan says. “That’s the dimension I can add.”