executive notes
professionals making moves
GRUBB & ELLIS
Bringing 25 years of experience with him,
Thomas P. D’Arcy has
joined Santa Ana, CA-based
Grubb & Ellis as president, CEO and a member
of the board of directors.
He succeeds Gary Hunt,
who served as interim CEO.
D’Arcy comes to Grubb from
Inland Real Estate Corp., a
$1.5-billion REIT, where he
worked as an independent director since
2005. Prior to that, the executive served
as chairman and CEO of Bradley Real
Estate Inc., the nation’s oldest public real
estate investment trust. He helped grow
the firm through restructuring, mergers and
acquisitions, leading to its sale to Heritage
Property Investment Trust in 2000.
D’Arcy
CARLSON HOTELS
This hospitality company has tapped
Michael Hutchins as vice president of
development for its Radisson Hotels &
Resorts brand for the Eastern US and
Canada. Operating out of Minneapolis,
he will oversee franchise development of
new-build and conversion hotels as well as
management contracts. Hutchins comes
to Carlson Hotels Worldwide after stints
with Hilton Hotels Corp. and Wyndham
Hotels and Resorts.
JONES LANG LASALLE
Ann Sperling has been named chief operating officer for the Americas region of
Jones Lang LaSalle. She will be charged
with executing the Chicago-based firm’s
Americas regional plan, leading the
Americas Management Committee in
developing and implanting operations
policies, overseeing the regions planning
process and compensation program and
integrating support functions. Previously,
Sperling was managing director at Catellus
Development Group. Meanwhile, Jim
Footh has joined JLL’s Corporate Capital
Markets team in Seattle as a senior vice
president. As such, he will work to bolster
the division’s presence along the West
Coast.
CAPITALSOURCE
Steven A. Museles and James J.
Pieczynski have been appointed co-CEOs
and members of this commercial lender’s
board of directors. The promotions will become effective at the start of 2010.
Museles, who is currently
EVP and chief legal officer, will now focus on the
Chevy Chase, MD-based
company’s financings and
operations, working with
Pieczynski on its asset
strategy. Currently president of the Health Care
Real Estate business,
Pieczynski will be responsible for driving new loan
originations and maximizing the value of the firm’s
legacy loan portfolio. He
joined the firm in 2001, while
Museles came on board a year prior. ◆
Museles
Pieczynski
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RER’s New Counsel Hits the Ground Running
Duane J. Desiderio has joined the Washington, DC-based Real Estate
Roundtable as vice president and counsel. On board for a few weeks now,
his focus is on energy, environmental, land use and transportation issues
as they relate to the commercial real estate industry. A policy expert in
environmental resources and property rights, he replaces Roger Platt, who
joined the US Green Buildings Council.
Most recently vice president of legal
affairs at the National Association of Home
Builders—his tenure at the association
ran from 1997 to 2009—Desiderio managed NAHB’s litigation program, where his
work resulted in over 50 reported opinions. He’ll be drawing on that experience
as the Roundtable gears up for Congress’
next big focus, the environment.
Right now, both the Roundtable and
Congress have been focusing on finan-
cial services, and health care in the case
of Congress alone. Once these matters
are put to rest in one manner or another
for this legislative session, Congress will
begin focusing on the environmental and
energy legislation that has been introduced.
These will have a big impact on the commercial real estate industry,
Desiderio maintains, and in some surprising ways.
“Most of the emphasis and attention has been on cap-and-trade provisions but one of the bigger issues that will impact the commercial real
estate industry is the notion of federalizing
building codes,” he offers. “That will
drive a sea change in how building codes
are regulated.”
Currently state and local governments
administer the codes, but some of the bills
on the Hill right now would give the federal government a more intrusive role in
overseeing, enforcing and even establishing building codes for building and energy
efficiency, he says. In the worst case
scenario, the federal government would
assume a very heavy-handed role in regulating building construction, Desiderio
adds. “I think that point has gotten lost
in the dialogue around the cap-and-trade
issue,” he says.—Erika Morphy Desiderio
