After making our way through days of mooncakes and national celebrations this past two weeks, Asia is back to work in earnest today with top level real estate investment and development executives finding new desks to launch their emails from. Leading our list is the departure of a top executive for Starwood Capital in Hong Kong, while another private equity firm adds to its team in Tokyo. Also, once-defaulting developer Kaisa Holdings is looking healthy these days as it begins to build a team to operate internationally from Hong Kong. Read on for all the details on this week’s people moves from around the region.
Starwood Capital Group Managing Director and Head of Asia Pacific Acquisitions Kevin Colket is on his way from the private equity firm that he helped to lead for more than eleven years as the Harvard MBA-holder announced this week that he is on gardening leave from Barry Sternlicht’s investment group. Colket, who first joined Starwood in 2007 and has been based in Hong Kong since 2015, has only revealed that he is currently on gardening leave, and did not respond to inquiries from Mingtiandi about potential future roles before the time of publication.
Charles Haase has joined Aetos Capital in Japan as Managing Director for Investor Relationship Management, based in Tokyo. Hasse comes to the private equity real estate investment firm from okyu Land Corporation’s US Planning Group after first joining the Japanese firm in 2012. The PhD holder from the University of California at Davis also has previous experience with California state pension fund CalSTRS.
Gary Wong has signed up with developer Kaisa Group in Hong Kong as a General Manager with the Shenzhen-based developer. Wong’s new role involves establishing a property development and investment team for Hong Kong and other locations outside of the mainland, according to his LinkedIn profile, as well as strategic planning and business development. Wong most recently spent more than four years with the UK’s Grosvenor Group in Hong Kong and also has experience with the Empire Group and Swire Properties.
Thomas Lam has been promoted to the rank of Executive Director with Knight Frank in Hong Kong, where he continues to head the property consultancy’s Valuation and Advisory division for the city. Lam has been with Knight Frank since 2011, and had previously spent more than four years as a Senior Director. The graduate of the University of Sheffield and Sheffield Hallam Universities also has previous experience with Colliers International and Credit Suisse.
Sylvia Allan has joined Indonesian co-working operator Go-Rework as Vice President of Sales, based in Jakarta. Allan flew south to the largest city in Southeast Asia earlier this year after previously honing her skills at Shanghai-based flexible office naked Hub, which was acquired by WeWork earlier this year. Allan also has six years prior experience with the Executive Centre in Shanghai and spent four years at Servcorp.
Eileen Wee has been promoted to Senior Marketing Communications Manager with flexible office startup JustCo in Singapore. Wee’s step up at JustCo, comes as the company started by entrepreneur Wan Sing Kong and his crew expands further into Southeast Asia, after recently signing a lease for their third centre in Bangkok. Wee’s promotion comes just under a year and a half after she joined the company from Louis Vuitton.
If your company has made a major new hire, if you’ve recently scored your dream job or if someone that you never really liked just got fired, please drop us a line here at Mingtiandi, and we will be happy to share your news with Asia’s real estate community.
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