NEW YORK CITY-Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited announced Thursday that Robert O'Brien has been appointed to lead its global real estate group. O'Brien, a vice chairman with Deloitte in the United States, will also continue as the US real estate leader.
According to the announcement, O'Brien will focus on sharing emerging trends and best practices with the network of member firms around the globe in his new role. Backed by a 10-member global real estate executive committee, he will work with the member firms to develop regional teams in emerging markets, enhance service programs for Deloitte's largest global clients, and leverage its industry expertise across consulting, tax, audit, enterprise risk and financial advisory services. O'Brien will work closely with Chris Harvey, global lead, financial services industry at Deloitte.
“To capture growth in the next few years, many major real estate players are diversifying their portfolios across geographic markets and asset classes,” says O'Brien in the announcement. “As the economic recovery matures, we are seeing an increase in cross-border capital flows in the real estate industry.
“Investment activity in emerging markets is strong,” he continues. “The dramatic flight to quality in the developed markets is now leading to favorable opportunities in secondary and tertiary locations,” he says in the release. “Further, around the world we see commercial real estate leaders getting more active in capturing the benefits of technological innovation—like cloud computing and advanced analytics—to drive business decisions and maintain a competitive edge.”
O'Brien's background, spanning 29 years, includes global client relationships, initial public offerings, acquisitions, dispositions, workouts and bankruptcies. He has advised large public REITs, private equity real estate funds and hospitality clients, the announcement states.
Prior to his three years of service as the US member firm's real estate practice, O'Brien served as the US member firm's audit and enterprise risk management leader for its real estate practice, as well as Deloitte's global real estate funds initiative leader, according to the company's announcement. O'Brien joined Deloitte's US firm in 1983.
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Rayna Katz
Rayna Katz is a seasoned business journalist whose extensive experience includes coverage of the lodging sector, travel and the culinary space. She was most recently content director for a business-to-business publisher, overseeing four publications. While at Meeting News, a travel trade publication, she received a Best Reporting award for a story on meeting cancellations in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina.
