People on the move – 19 January 2016
Property Council appoints former Abbott staffer as new head of media and communications; Steven Sewell joins Macquarie; CBRE appoints new director of Sydney CBD leasing; Colliers appoints head of Valuation and Advisory in Asia; and Knight Frank expands Global Corporate Solutions and Office Leasing teams.
Paul Ritchie (pictured) has joined the Property Council of Australia as head of Media and Communications, replacing Fiona Benson. Ritchie has most recently been the head of Communications and senior adviser to former Prime Minister Tony Abbott and was his press secretary for two years prior to this in opposition. Before this he was senior public affairs manager at the NSW Business Chamber and he has also filled media and communications roles for Malcolm Turnbull’s original election to parliament and John Brogden when he was NSW Opposition Leader.
Former Federation Centres chief executive Steven Sewell has taken up a role as an executive of Macquarie Group’s real estate division, based in London. In 2015 Sewell was replaced at Federation Centres after its merger with Novion Property Group by former chief of Novion Angus McNaughton.
After more than 10 years at DTZ (now Cushman & Wakefield), Mark Semple has moved to CBRE as a director in the firm’s Sydney CBD leasing team.
Colliers International has expanded its Valuation and Advisory Services team in Asia. Former head of valuation and advisory for Greater China and an executive director with Cushman & Wakefield, Vincent Cheung, has been appointed executive director, Valuation and Advisory, Asia. He brings with him a team of valuation experts including Alton Wong, who has been appointed as a senior director at Colliers.
Knight Frank has made several new appointments in its Global Corporate Services and NSW Office Leasing teams. Gordon Wyllie has been appointed as a director, Global Corporate Services Victoria, based in the Melbourne office. He was most recently at Cushman & Wakefield in its Tenant Advisory team following nine years at Savills in Commercial Leasing. Vivian Huang joins Knight Frank as a consultant, Global Corporate Services NSW, based in the Sydney office. She worked for DTZ in Beijing for three years, working her way up from a tenant rep assistant to a senior leasing executive. George Mair was a participant in the Knight Frank Student Program starting in February 2015 before becoming an analyst within the Global Corporate Services division in November.
Knight Frank’s NSW Office Leasing team has been restructured with three new appointments. Tina Raftopoulos joins as a director, Office Leasing, based in the Sydney CBD team, Jessica Roberts joins as a senior leasing executive in Sydney and Eve Dindakis joins Knight Frank’s Parramatta team as a leasing executive.