Northcrest Developments announced Derek Goring has taken over as CEO. 

Goring has responsibility for leading the organization, including the next stage of Northcrest’s transformation of the 370-acre Downsview Airport Lands, located in northwest Toronto. 

He brings more than 20 years of expertise as a real estate development executive in the Greater Toronto Area, having worked previously with First Gulf Corporation helping to guide large-scale developments at Waterfront Toronto and Infrastructure Ontario. 

Since October 2019, he has served as executive vice-president, development at Northcrest. 

Continuing to work alongside Goring will be Christopher Eby, executive vice-president, corporate and public affairs. Eby has extensive experience in strategic communications, stakeholder relations and municipal and provincial affairs.

Kakar moves to CDPQ

CDPQ has announced Yana Watson Kakar will join the group as managing director and head of Americas. Kakar will also head up CDPQ's New York office and oversee offices in Mexico and Brazil.

Kakar is the CEO of Growth for Good, a special purpose acquisition company focused on sustainable companies critical to the decarbonization of the global economy.

Previously she was global managing partner of Dalberg Advisors, a multinational consulting firm specializing in policy, strategy and investment advisory. In 2020, Kakar concluded two terms in the role having led the firm to triple its revenues and grow to nearly 30 offices worldwide over the course of her tenure.

She serves on the board of directors of Oxfam America and is a member of the Young Presidents' Organization, the Women's Forum of New York and 100 Women in Finance.

She holds an MBA from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and a bachelor of arts from McGill University. 

Newmark appoints Taylor as Canadian head

Newmark Group, Inc. has named Norm Taylor as country head and president for Canada. 

With nearly 30 years of experience in sales, leasing, finance and executive leadership, Taylor will be based in Vancouver and report to western region president Kevin McCabe.

In this newly created position, Taylor is responsible for Newmark's day-to-day brokerage operation in Canada, including strategic direction, business development, delivery of client service and recruitment, mentorship and retention of professionals.   

Before joining Newmark, Taylor worked as vice-president of national advisory and as vice-president and managing director of real estate finance for the British Columbia Region at CMLS Financial. He also previously served as executive vice-president and managing director for the British Columbia region at CBRE, senior vice-president at JLL and vice-president at Colliers International.

Weaver retires, Coulter new prez/CEO at MCAN

MCAN Mortgage Corporation has named Don Coulter president and CEO, effective Dec. 1, as part of its planned leadership change. Coulter will also join MCAN’s board.

With the CEO succession resolved, Karen Weaver has stepped down as president and CEO and as a director effective immediately. She will remain as a consultant through the end of 2023 to support an orderly transition.  

Board chair Derek Sutherland will assume the interim CEO role until Dec. 1. The board appointed John Coke as lead director during Sutherland's tenure as interim CEO.

Under Weaver’s leadership during the past four-and-a-half years, MCAN’s residential mortgage origination platform saw annual originations grow from $225 million in 2018 to over $1 billion. The overall residential and construction mortgage portfolio grew 110 per cent to $1.9 billion.

Additionally, over her tenure total asset growth was 95 per cent to $4.1 billion and net income grew 53 per cent to $55.4 million with an average ROE of 14.39 per cent over the four-year period ending in 2022. 

Coulter brings prior CEO experience to his role at MCAN. He is currently the CEO of connectFirst Credit Union and prior to this was the president and CEO of Wyth Financial (formerly Concentra Bank). In addition to these positions, he was CFO and then CEO of Coast Capital. 

Coulter is an alumnus of New York University Stern School of Business and the University of Toronto. He is a CPA and an accredited director by the Institute of Corporate Directors.

Bhayani new president, CEO at Frontline

Amyn Bhayani has moved up to become president and CEO at Frontline Real Estate Services. Bhayani will be tasked with expanding Frontline’s services, exploring new opportunities and enhancing existing offerings. 

Prior to becoming president and CEO, Bhayani served as an advisor for Frontline since 2014.

Earlier, Bhayani spent 18 years at Colliers International, leaving as vice-president, corporate development globally and the group’s international secretariat. 

He then spent nearly a decade focused on developing greenfield sites and repositioning commercial and residential real estate through his own development company, Rockcastle Developments.

Sowa becomes CEO at iRestify

Real estate building maintenance and performance prop tech iRestify has appointed Karl Sowa as its new CEO.

Prior to joining iRestify, Sowa held the position of president at TaskEasy, where he helped grow the company from 40 to over 350 team members, with thousands of contractors providing services in over 12,000 cities across the U.S.  

He also held officer-level roles at companies including HomeAdvisor, NetQuote and Teleflora. Sowa graduated with a BS in industrial engineering from Columbia University and an MBA from the Stanford University Graduate School of Business.

DeRoo McConnan becomes Imperial Equities’ interim CFO

Imperial Equities Inc. (IEI-X) has appointed Meghan DeRoo McConnan as interim chief financial officer.

Prior to joining Imperial, DeRoo McConnan had a lengthy career as a CPA and partner with one of the world's largest accounting firms. 

She has expertise in the areas of financial reporting and financial accounting and has advised corporations and organizations in all aspects of their business.        

Dogra new senior VP at CFO Capital

CFO Capital has hired Navendu Dogra as senior vice-president, business development.

Dogra has originated and funded over $3 billion in commercial real estate loans across a range of asset classes, including multiresidential, retail, office, industrial and special use. With 15 years of commercial real estate banking experience, his core expertise lies in construction, adaptive reuse, as well as CMHC-insured financing. 

Prior to joining CFO Capital, Dogra was an originator at Equitable Bank, and corporate banker at ICICI Bank in Toronto, and in Mumbai, India.

Dogra has an MBA from Indian School of Business and is a CFA Level III candidate.

Feeny promoted to COO at Tribe

Tribe has promoted Dan Feeny to the role of chief operating officer. Feeny has been Tribe's chief technology officer and previously acted as interim COO.

He replaces Drew Keddy, who is pursuing other endeavours.

Tribe appointed Feeny to the newly-created CTO’s role in 2021, leading the product, engineering and IT teams. He has over 20 years of technical and management experience. 

Prior to joining Tribe, Feeny served as vice-president, technology at Lendesk for three years.

He also held senior technology leadership roles prior to his tenure at Lendesk, including vice-president, engineering at PayWith, vice-president, R&D at INETCO and director of engineering at Vivonet.

Amusa joins ONE advisory board

ONE Development Corp. has named Bidemi Amusa the newest member of its advisory board.

Amusa brings a wealth of experience and expertise in the real estate industry. He has a track record of delivering homes that combine contemporary architectural design with high-level finishing.

As a member of the advisory board, Amusa will assist in providing strategic guidance and industry knowledge, contributing to the company's immediate and long-term growth.

Amusa’s Carillion Limited has been recognized with multiple awards for the significant contributions to the real estate industry in Nigeria and Africa.

Habib takes CFO role at Pineapple

Pineapple Financial Inc. has appointed Sarfraz Habib as CFO.

Habib joins Pineapple with over 25 years of expertise in finance and accounting for both public and private companies.

His track record includes reducing finance costs considerably as the controller and a board member of Keystroke Group Inc., where he was twice awarded the employee-of-the-year honours.