Jon Tanaka to Lead Hines APAC Business, Ray Lawler Shifts to Americas Role

Hines is shaking up its regional leadership team, with Japan head Jon Tanaka to oversee the US developer and fund manager’s Asia Pacific business as current APAC boss Ray Lawler returns home to lead activity in the Americas.

Saiko Ishii, who joined the firm from Nippon Prologis REIT last year, will assume the role of co-lead of Japan alongside Tanaka, Houston-based Hines said Tuesday in a release. As part of a broader overhaul, company veterans Steve Luthman and Lars Huber will lead real estate services globally and in Europe, respectively, while Chris Rector will head up integration efforts for the three geographic regions.

The changes will take effect on 1 January 2025 as part of a restructuring of the real estate services division to complement the investment management platform led by global CIO David Steinbach. The closely held firm’s investment committee structures and governance are to remain unchanged.

“Steve, Ray, Lars, Jon, Saiko and Chris have demonstrated strong leadership and a deep commitment to client-centricity,” said Laura Hines-Pierce, co-CEO of Hines. “They are vital to our continued growth and evolution as a company to uncover unique investment opportunities for both institutional and private wealth investors.”

Rapid Regional Expansion

Tanaka joined Hines in 2021 as the firm’s first first head of Japan after spending more than a decade as real estate lead in the country for US private equity firm Angelo Gordon.

Fluent in Japanese and English, the Harvard graduate was part of Angelo Gordon’s leadership when it raised $1.3 billion for AG Asia Realty Fund IV in 2019 to deploy in Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, mainland China and elsewhere in the region.

At Hines, Tanaka has led the expansion of the Japan portfolio to more than 30 assets across the residential, industrial and office sectors with a combined value of $2 billion.

Hong Kong-based Lawler, a US Marine Corps veteran and former naval aviator, joined Hines in 2007 and has led the firm’s APAC business since 2019. On his watch, the Hines APAC portfolio grew almost four-fold to nearly $8 billion in assets under management, with the firm’s presence in the region expanding from two countries to seven.

Lawler will take on the newly created role of Americas lead after previously serving as senior managing director for the US West Region from 2017 to 2019.

As chief investment officer at Prologis REIT Management, Ishii oversaw acquisitions, dispositions, leasing and portfolio management for Nippon Prologis REIT’s $6.3 billion portfolio of logistics properties.

Team Reshuffle

Luthman, a member of the Hines executive committee, joined the firm in 2005 and has led capital formation for two Canada-specific discretionary investment vehicles and spearheaded the company’s mass timber product, T3.

Huber joined Hines in 1996. In prior roles he served as CFO for the European region, oversaw equity capital raising for Hines in Europe and Asia, acted as fund manager on the European investment management team and worked on development and acquisitions as development officer in Germany.

Rector currently serves as co-head of the US Southwest Region. He joined Hines in 2015 after a career in marketing at Federated Insurance.

Hines owns and operates $93.2 billion in assets across property types and on behalf of institutional and private wealth clients.