A top level change at Korea’s sovereign wealth fund leads this week’s roundup of personnel moves from around the region as KIC’s head of real estate reportedly is exiting the $157 billion fund after being name to his position in August. Keppel Data Centres is also in the news, as it names a pair of former Google executives to leadership positions and Cushman & Wakefield steps up its regional industrial offering with a set of new hires.
Joseph Cha Hoon has resigned from his role as head of real estate investment at Korea Investment Corporation just over two months after taking over the top property investment spot at the sovereign wealth fund, according to a report late last week. Cha is said to be heading back to the private sector, where he had served as a vice president at Carlyle Group from 2007 until joining KIC nine years ago. Mingtiandi was not able to independently confirm the news of Cha’s departure.
Singapore’s Keppel Data Centres has imported some foreign talent to tackle its technical challenges with the division of Keppel Corporation announcing its hiring of a former Google executive as its new chief technology officer last week. Mike Coleman, who served as head of global data center operations for Google from late 2017 through January 2019, joined Keppel DC in Singapore last month, according to a LinkedIn update, and also has previous experience in data centre roles with Yahoo and Cupertino Electric. Also joining Keppel Data Centres from Google is Tony Disley, who is now the company’s head of project management, after leading the planning and construction of Google’s data centres in Taiwan from 2018 through 2020.
APG Asset Management executive Roberto Versace has been named chairman of the Hong Kong chapter of real estate industry association APREA, according to an announcement today. Versace, who serves in his day job as managing director and head of listed real estate for Asia Pacific at APG, took on the regional leadership role on the same day that APREA named Baker McKenzie partner Jeremy Ong as deputy chairman of the Hong Kong chapter and Forest Logistics chief executive Hank Hsu as a board member for its China chapter.
Cushman & Wakefield has stepped up its industrial efforts in Asia Pacific, with the company today introducing Tim Foster as its new head of supply chain logistics advisory for the region. Foster joins a new E-Commerce, Logistics and Industrial team headed by Singapore-based company veteran Dennis Yeo, along with director Abraham Joseph and associate director Rajesh Ramaswamy. Prior to taking on this new challenge, Foster had founded and operated logistics consulting firms in Vietnam.
CBRE Hong Kong has signed up former JLL executive Judy Wai as a senior director with the office services division of its advisory and transaction services unit, according to a company representative. Wai is rejoining CBRE, where she had worked from 2011 to 2014, after seven years with rival JLL where she had served first as director of tenant representation, and until recently, as senior director for regional transaction management.
JLL today announced that it has hired Noel Neo as head of Singapore mid-markets with its JLL Hotels and Hospitality Group, as the firm aims to ups its service to investors in budget hotels. A former senior vice president with APREA, Neo in 2019 co-founded affordable hospitality operator K Hotel, where he served as chief financial officer until September of this year. At JLL, Neo also is director of OfficeBlocks, an AI-powered analysis tool connected to the firm’s property databases.
If you know of other Asia real estate professionals changing their jobs, getting promoted or just doing something exciting, please contact us here at Mingtiandi.
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