People on the Move – 7 March 2017

Urban development specialist Pru Sanderson moves to Arcadis, Savills, Aurecon and Knight Frank enhance their teams while Master Builders’ longstanding chief, Wilhelm Harnisch, steps down.

Arcadis has hired urban development expert Pru Sanderson (pictured) as its inaugural Melbourne city executive. Sanderson was previously the chief executive officer of VicUrban, and has held various leadership positions at GHD, Federation Square and Monash Property Management.

Master Builders Australia’s longstanding chief executive officer, Wilhelm Harnisch, is stepping down after 15 years at the helm. Harnisch, who has been with Master Builders for 26 years, was appointed chief economist in 1991, deputy CEO in 1996 and CEO in 2002.

Savills has appointed Benson Zhou to its CBD and metropolitan sales team in Victoria. Zhou speaks fluent Cantonese, Mandarin and Shanghainese, and state director Clinton Baxter says the appointment will consolidate Savills’ reputation at the leading edge of Asian investment.

Scott Powell is Aurecon’s new regional director for New South Wales, and will be responsible for the global engineering firm’s overall operations in the state.  

Knight Frank has appointed David Howson as its new head of office leasing – a newly-formed role for the agency. Howson currently manages both state and national roles and will hand over the NSW responsibilities to Aaron Weir when he starts with the firm in May. Weir is currently national director of office leasing for Colliers International.