NEW YORK CITY-Joseph French has decamped Sperry Van Ness for Marcus and Millichap, where he will serve as senior director of its National Retail Group, based in White Plains, NY. French’s Sperry Van Ness office there is effectively being rebranded under the Marcus & Millichap umbrella. He tells GlobeSt.com that he’ll bring along a team of brokers from Sperry Van Ness to the new job.

“I found it to be an exciting opportunity to strengthen the French retail team’s position in the northeast and I felt that our interests are aligned with Marcus & Millichap’s,” the 27-year real estate veteran says. “I also felt that the many tools that Marcus & Millichap has to offer will help us better serve our clients.” Among those tools, he says, is the Marcus & Millichap research department and other predictive tools used to see where the market is headed.

French had been at Sperry Van Ness for the past ten years and was the firm’s national director of retail, heading the JC French National Retail Team, an affiliate. He started in his new position January 1, 2012.

Filling the gap left by his departure at Sperry Van Ness is Shari Tucker-Gasser, who has been named national director of Retail Properties. “Shari lives and breathes retail,” Sperry Van Ness president and CEO Kevin Maggiacomo said in a prepared statement. “As a result, she has distinguished herself as a retail expert among her peers at SVNI and within the industry.” Tucker-Gasser is based in the firm’s Phoenix, AZ office.

As for French, he says that he’ll continue to focus on advising “institutional and high-net worth owners and buyers.” He adds that the team has, combined, over 75 years in the retail market. That team consists of Jodi Tomany, Thomas C. Dalzell, Schuyler Boylan and Amie Segel, who have joined French in the move from Sperry Van Ness.