This week, during the peak of the industry’s high season, some of China’s property firms seem as busy rearranging their organisation charts as they are chasing new business. One of the major agencies sees a pair of veteran executives depart in Singapore shortly after merging with a rival, while on the mainland a rival firm rejigs its office leasing team during what is turning out to be a challenging year. Read on for more details.
Apara Guha is said to have resigned from her role as Managing Director at Cushman & Wakefield in Singapore, following the merger of the property consultancy with rival DTZ, which was completed at the beginning of September. If confirmed, Guha’s may be the most senior level departure from C&W’s Singapore office as top management from DTZ drive the transition to the company’s post-merger structure.
Vignesh Thangadurai has joined Hewlett-Packard in Singapore after leaving Cushman & Wakefield’s team in the city during September, also following the finalisation of DTZ’s acquisition of C&W. In his new role, Thangadurai will be responsible for real estate planning and transactions regionally for the US high tech firm. Prior to joining HP, Thangadurai had been with Cushman & Wakefield for more than five years, most recently serving as Portfolio Manager (APAC).
Sean Lim has left his role as Executive Director of Office Services for China at CBRE, where he has now been replaced by former JLL executive Fion Zhang, according to reports by CBRE insiders. Lim had been hand-picked in 2013 by CBRE China president Ivan Poon to run the company’s office leasing team nationwide, but saw part of his responsibilities for its eastern China operations given to Zhang when she joined in June. Lim’s departure is interpreted by some as a sign of waning stature within the company for Poon, as the executive appears to have been unable to stanch what are said to be deepening losses at CBRE after more than two-and-a-half years running its China operations.
Chris Currie has left his role as Head of Sales Management for China with CBRE. Currie, who had been with CBRE for over seven years – first in Vietnam, then in Beijing and most recently in Shanghai – has not yet revealed where his next destination will be. Currie’s departure from CBRE comes as all but three of the real estate agency’s more than 12 business lines in eastern China are said to have missed their budget targets so far this year.
Claire Lin has been promoted to Commercial Manager with US chip maker Intel, based in Beijing. Lin’s latest step up comes after she has spent more than five years looking after Intel’s real estate facilities in China, most recently as a Facility Manager. Prior to joining Intel, the graduate of China University of Mining and Technology also spent several years with insurer AIA, as well as serving stints with CBRE and Chinese energy giant CNOOC.
As usual, if you know of other China real estate professionals changing their jobs, getting promoted or just doing something exciting, please feel free to share with the rest of the community here at Mingtiandi.
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