Marcus Sperber has been appointed an independent director of Fiera Real Estate. (Courtesy Fiera)

Fiera Real Estate Investments Ltd., has appointed Marcus Sperber to its board as an independent director.

Sperber left the role of managing director and global head of real estate at Blackrock in 2019, after 17 years, and recently founded NorthCroft Capital. The real estate investment and advisory business provides strategic business advice to institutional capital and real estate businesses.

Sperber is a fellow of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors and brings extensive experience to the Fiera board, having spent over 30 years in the real estate industry.

He has participated on several industry committees at the most senior executive levels and has experienced the property industry through a number of economic cycles, having led company mergers, corporate acquisitions and disposals.

He has structured, managed and launched real estate funds, managed large teams globally and executed numerous property transactions and asset management initiatives including area-based regeneration projects.

Sperber has both development and investment experience and is a purposeful investor with particular skills in leadership of people and team management, developing culture, setting strategy, managing change and developing strong client and stakeholder relationships.

Pilgrim becomes director, capital markets at Colliers

Colliers (CIGI-T) has hired Chris Pilgrim as its new director, global capital markets. He will focus on connecting global capital with opportunities across regions and asset classes, working collaboratively with the Colliers teams across the world.

Based in London, Pilgrim joins Colliers from his previous position as an executive director at CBRE, where he led its global capital markets teams for Southeast Asia and was previously based in Singapore.

Pilgrim brings a unique breadth of global experience, having advised on inter-regional real estate investment between EMEA, APAC and Americas regions from both London and Singapore during his 14-year career.

He is an expert in large-scale investments with a history of major cross-border transactions totalling over US$10 billion. He’s also a specialist in advising on complex development projects and successfully marketing landmark assets with values in excess of US$1 billion.

Peretz new EVP, managing director at JLL GTA

JLL has hired Jonathan Peretz as executive vice-president and managing director, Greater Toronto Area office and industrial. His role will focus on leadership and the optimization of JLL’s market and talent growth, service line excellence and best practices across office and industrial leasing.

Prior to joining JLL, Peretz started his career at CBRE as an office leasing agent. He focused on landlord and tenant representation in the downtown Toronto office market, listing and leasing over 4.5 million square feet.

In 2014, he was promoted to vice-president and shifted into the management team in Vancouver. Appointed sales manager of the firm’s Vancouver office, he supported the brokers and clients and helped grow the brand and market share.

Peretz returned to Toronto in January 2017 as vice-president, managing director and less than two years later became senior vice-president, managing director.

Peretz earned a degree from University of Western Ontario and has a strong interest in mentorship and giving back to the community.

Lewis joins CI Global Asset Mgmt.

CI Global Asset Management has named Marc-André Lewis, an accomplished investment professional with extensive global experience, as its executive vice-president and head of investment management.

Lewis is joining CI from the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the world’s largest sovereign wealth funds, where he was head of portfolio construction. The appointment is effective Sept. 1.

He will lead more than 100 investment professionals and oversee CI’s integrated global investment platform. The company announced in November it will combine its in-house investment boutiques and operate as one team under one brand – CI Global Asset Management.

Lewis will relocate from Abu Dhabi to Toronto for the position.

Previously, Lewis was senior vice-president and deputy chief risk officer at Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec. He was also a member of the CDPQ asset allocation committee.

He holds a PhD in theoretical physics from Pierre and Marie Curie University in Paris, and an M.Sc. in theoretical physics and a B.Sc. in mathematics and physics from Université de Montréal.

Olynick leaves Manulife, goes to Two Sevens Capital

Jonathan Olynick has joined Two Sevens Capital as managing partner and head of real estate. He’ll take on responsibility for the firm’s acquisitions, debt financing, asset and property management, operational efficiency and delivery of client services.

The 20-year industry veteran brings extensive experience to the role, moving over from his most recent position as managing director, global head of leasing, asset management, real estate at Manulife Investment Management.

He spent over a decade at Manulife and previously had roles at Brookfield Properties and Direct Energy.

He holds a bachelor of arts from The University of Western Ontario.

Karam takes reins at CBRE Ottawa office

Louis Karam has been appointed the new senior vice-president and managing director of CBRE’s Ottawa office. Karam had spent a decade working in CBRE’s Montreal office, in increasingly senior roles.

Over the past several years, he had overseen CBRE’s project management business in Eastern Canada. During the time, we worked in partnership with numerous Fortune 500 companies and built an extensive network across the region.

CBRE calls Karam “a dynamic, results-focused leader who provides comprehensive real estate strategies” in its announcement of the new position.

Karam takes over the role from Shawn Hamilton, who moved to become vice-president of business development, National Capital Region, for Canderel Group.

Hotel Equities hires Stitt as Canadian head

Hotel owner, operator and development firm Hotel Equities (HE) announced Martin Stitt has been appointed senior vice-president of operations for Canada, where he will oversee its growing portfolio of Canadian properties.

HE’s Canadian regional team, based in Edmonton, provides corporate support across all disciplines including operations, food and beverage, sales and marketing, revenue generation, accounting and human resources to the firm’s 26 managed hotels in Canada.

Stitt brings 30-plus years of industry experience, as well as broad experience in all market segments from select service and extended stay, to resort, full-service and luxury.

He most recently served as area VP, Canada with Marriott International from 2015 to 2020. During that time, he led the integration of Delta Hotels and Starwood Hotels for Western Canada, growing the portfolio from five to 26 managed properties with over 5,000 associates and $600 million in annual sales.

He’ll work closely with HE’s senior VP of business development in Canada, Ryan McRae, to identify areas of opportunity for HE.

Stitt received his MBA and bachelor of commerce from the University of Guelph. In 2014, he received the University of Guelph George D. Bedell Alumni Award for Industry and Community Leadership.

Stathonikos becomes NexLiving president

Halifax-based NexLiving Communities Inc. (NXLV-X) has hired Stavro Stathonikos as its new president, effective today. Stavro joins NexLiving from CIBC Capital Markets where he was most recently executive director, institutional sales.

He has over 15 years of capital markets experience in a capital raising and M&A capacity. Stathonikos will be based in Toronto and his diverse capital markets experience, including his involvement in numerous real estate transactions, will both be of value to NexLiving.

“We are extremely pleased to have a real estate and capital markets professional of Stavro’s calibre join the NexLiving team,” said CEO Michael Anaka.

“His skillset is complementary to our current executive team and will allow us to immediately focus on growing our portfolio of 55+ active living properties in bedroom communities throughout Ontario.”

Baril resigns from Firm Capital

Firm Capital Mortgage Investment Corporation (FC-T) said chief financial officer Boris Baril has resigned, effective immediately.

In the interim, Sandy Poklar has been appointed CFO until the corporation can bring on a permanent replacement. Baril had been with Firm for about four years.