JLL APAC CEO Anthony Couse Set to Leave Company After 35 Years

JLL will be saying goodbye over the coming months to its chief executive for Asia Pacific, Anthony Couse, according to an internal company memo seen by Mingtiandi.

“I’m reaching out today with an important leadership update. After a remarkable journey of over 35 years with JLL, Anthony Couse, our CEO of Asia Pacific, has decided to embark on a new chapter and will be leaving our company,” the company’s global chief executive, Christian Ulbrich said in the document sent to Asia Pacific staff members and its global leadership.

The senior leadership change comes more than eight years after Couse took the property consultancy’s top spot for the region, following an earlier tenure leading its eastern China business from Shanghai. There has been no indication yet of the executive’s plans after a stint with the company and its predecessors which began in 1989.

The leadership change comes after a corporate transformation program launched in 2019 saw JLL shift more decision-making responsibilities to leaders of its business lines, with some analysts seeing regional bosses playing a diminished role under the new structure.

Succession Programme Ongoing

JLL has yet to name a replacement for Couse as head of its business in Asia Pacific, with Ulbrich saying that company, “will be working through a careful transition over the coming months.”

“We have a clear vision and strong position in Asia Pacific and we will continue to build on this together in the months and years ahead,” Ulbrich said in the statement, without providing a timeline for the leadership changeover.

In the first half of this year JLL reported $10.7 billion in revenue, which was up 10 percent in US dollar terms from the same period a year earlier. The company swung to $151 million in net income attributable to common shareholders from January through June, after losing $6.7 million over the first half of 2023.

In a statement at the time that the company’s first-half financials were released in August, Ulbrich stressed the need to control expenses while looking forward to future expansion

“Our bottom-line performance demonstrated the success of our recent and ongoing cost management efforts. In addition to remaining focused on scaling our platform as we anticipate future growth, our connected and diversified platform, along with strategic investments to further differentiate our business, will enhance long-term stakeholder value,” Ulbrich said.

London to Singapore via China

Before relocating to Singapore to take on the APAC chief executive role in June of 2016, Couse had spent a decade with JLL in Shanghai leading the company’s business in what was then arguably the region’s hottest property market.

Prior to shifting to Shanghai in 2006, the University of London graduate worked in Hong Kong for 12 years, in a succession of roles including head of commercial real estate for Asia, after starting out leasing office space in the City of London just two years out of university.

Couse’s departure follows JLL China chief executive Bessie Lee saying goodbye to the company in July, after splitting her time between London and Shanghai since 2021. Anny Zhang, formerly managing director for East China with JLL, took over as the company’s mainland chief on 1 September.

In January of this year, longtime JLL Southeast Asia chief executive Chris Fossick left the company to join the board of UK developer Native Land.