People on the Move – 8 March 2016

People on the Move – 8 March 2016Property Council appoints new executive directors in ACT and WA; GHD follows its leadership transition plan; CBRE nabs two recruits in Sydney; Savills employs manager of Research & Consultancy; and GSA expands following acquisition.Merlin Kong (pictured) has been appointed as the new ACT executive director of the Property Council, following the departure last year of long-time ED Catherine Carter. Kong was previously director of Policy Strategy and senior adviser in the ACT Legislative Assembly. He has also worked as a commercialisation adviser for various start-up companies, was Trade and Investment Client manager for the ACT Government and Cultural Affairs adviser for the US Embassy in Brunei.And in Western Australia, Lino Iacomella will take over as executive director when Joe Lenzo retires next month. Iacomella has a long history in the property industry, having been the Property Council’s WA deputy executive director for 10 years, public affairs director with the Real Estate Institute of WA and an economist with the ABS in Canberra.As part of its leadership transition plan, Ashley Wright will take over as chief executive officer of engineering consultant GHD, following the retirement of Ian Shepherd at the end of March. Wright is currently general manager for Europe, Middle East and Africa and has previously led GHD’s Western Australian operations. Shepherd will retire after 30 years at GHD, including eight years as CEO. CBRE has recruited Ben Lalic to the role of director, Western Sydney Office Services. Lalic joins CBRE from Colliers International where he was most recently director of Office Leasing in the Parramatta office. Another recruit to CBRE from Colliers is Michael Khouri, who will take up the position as manager in the Sydney Metropolitan Investment Properties team at CBRE.Savills Australia has appointed Monica Mondkar as manager, Research & Consultancy, in its Victorian head office. Mondkar has more than 10 years experience in property research with agencies in India, the UAE and Australia.Student accommodation provider GSA has made several new appointments as part of its $21 million acquisition of Campus Estates. As part of the deal Campus Estates founder Jon Whittle will join GSA as head of Real Estate for Australia. GSA has also expanded its management team in Australia with the appointment of Craig Oliver as Commercial director.