Mingtiandi’s final set of personnel updates for 2021 starts off with the Hong Kong Institute of Surveyors choosing a new chief and also brings you the latest signs of troubled from the realm of China’s indebted developers. Also making leadership moves this week are AEW and Blackstone, with new promotions handed out in Hong Kong and Singapore.
The Hong Kong Institute of Surveyors on 20 December announced that it had appointed Cushman & Wakefield Greater China chief executive KK Chiu as president of the real estate professional organisation for its 2021 to 2022 term. Having joined the HKIS in 1992, Chiu served as chairman of the institute’s property surveying group from 2015 to 2019. In his new role at the HKIS, Chiu will lead the group’s consultative work with the government on real estate policy as well as championing the organisation’s efforts setting standards for the industry.
Yango Group Holdings announced on 20 December that non-independent, non-executive director Chen Yilun had resigned from its board just over one year after being added to the mainland developer’s top decision-making body. Chen, who is chairman of Taikang Insurance’s Beijing business and head of the firm’s investment management division, as well as son of the state-owned giant’s chairman Chen Dongsheng, left the board as Taikang has reportedly been selling down its position in Yango. The Shanghai-based developer recently extended the maturity of $500 million in bonds after shocking the market with a third quarter loss.
Yian Wang has earned an upgraded role as head of acquisitions for Greater China at AEW, according to a LinkedIn update. Based in Hong Kong, Wang has been promoted from associate director after joining the Boston-based firm in April 2018 and will now be overseeing acquisitions and asset management in Greater China for the private equity real estate specialist, as well as serving as assistant portfolio manager for the firm’s Value Investors Asia strategy.
AEW has also promoted Tanya Do to managing director in Singapore, where the twenty-two year industry veteran manages the private fund manager’s portfolio in the region. Do is taking her step up from portfolio manager after less than two years at AEW, which she joined from Mitsubishi Estate’s Pan Asia Realty Advisors group in 2020. The University of Sydney graduate also has previous experience with UBS, Magenta Asset Management and Goodman.
Patsy Li has been rewarded with her fourth promotion in as many years at The Executive Centre, with the Seoul-based executive being named the shared office provider’s global director of co-working and community this month. The new role is in addition to the executive director for Korea position that Li took on last year and marks an upgrade to the global community director title which the Macquarie Graduate School of Management graduate took on in 2018.
Office systems provider Essensys continues to add to its Asia Pacific team as the UK firm last week introduced former Knight Frank executive Sean Lucas as its new head of sales for Australia and New Zealand. Before joining Essensys this month, Lucas had spent less than a year at Knight Frank as client solutions and flexible real estate lead after joining the property consultancy from IWG, parent firm of Regus, in May of this year.
Sirius Ziyi Xu has moved up to senior associate at Blackstone in Hong Kong with the Columbia University graduate being promoted from associate just less than two years after joining the private equity fund manager fresh from his master’s of real estate program. Xu also has previous experience with property agency Cushman & Wakefield in the Washington DC area, where he served as an analyst.
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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