Industry stalwarts are retiring, with Damien Frawley leaving QIC after nine years as CEO and Lendlease’s Queensland head of development Guy Gibson hanging up his hard hat after 25 years with the property group.
QIC CEO, Damien Frawley, will retire in 2022 after nine years leading the investment management corporation. During Frawley’s time at the helm of the Queensland Government-owned corporation, QIC has risen to become one of Australia’s leading investment managers, with more than $85 billion in assets under management for a range of government, domestic and global institutional investors. A search for Frawley’s successor is underway.
After more than 25 years at Lendlease, Guy Gibson is retiring at the end of July. Gibson, a former Queensland president, national director and honorary life member, started his journey with Lendlease in 1996. He was planning and design manager for the Mango Hill project, which would later become North Lakes. He worked on the acquisition of Delfin acquisition which, as he says, “supercharged Lendlease’s communities business and held general management roles with Delfin Lend Lease and Lendlease Communities. He had several stints as Qld general manager, and national roles as general manager of affordable housing, sustainability and government relations. Over the last two years, as head of development in Queensland, Gibson has led Lendlease’s urban regeneration business and mixed-use projects like the RNA Brisbane Showgrounds. Gibson is looking forward to “what comes next”, which will continue his non-executive director roles with Oxley Creek Transformation and Brisbane Sustainability Agency for Brisbane City Council, and the Suburban Alliance. Property Council Queensland executive director Jen Williams salutes Gibson as “a stalwart of the Property Council in Queensland and the medal-holder for being our number one fan”.
GHDWoodhead’s Hobart studio has expanded with the recent appointment of Bec Wilkie as senior architect. Wilkie joins the global design practice with nearly two decades at the forefront of civic, cultural, education, multi-residential and commercial project design. Recently she worked as part of the team responsible for delivering The Hedberg – a new performing arts building at University of Tasmania.
Mark Stefanac will lead Ethos Urban. The new chief executive officer brings with him a wealth of knowledge following a 25-year with tier one publicly listed global infrastructure firms. Stefanac was most recently principal at development and advisory firm Thelem Consulting. Stefanac joins Ethos Urban during a time of significant growth, with the team of urban professionals doubling in size since 2015. He replaces Danny Van D’huynslager who was with the firm for two years.
Commercial property firm CI Australia has appointed Antonio Marco as its director of engineering and operations. Marco has 20-plus years’ experience in facilities planning, maintenance, project and property operations. He has held roles with CBRE, Brookfield, Multiplex and most recently at AMP Capital as senior facilities manager. He replaces Todd Jackson was with CI for 10 years. CI manages a diverse portfolio of commercial and community assets for private businesses and state governments bodies including Transport for New South Wales and Blacktown City Council.
Nicholas Schiffer is leaving Vicinity Centres to pursue other opportunities. Schiffer, joined Vicinity as chief financial officer in September 2019, steering the company through its COVID-19 response and $1.2 billion equity raising last year. Vicinity’s director of strategy and corporate finance, Adrian Chye, will act in the role while an internal and global external search is underway. Chye joined CFSGAM Property, subsequently Novion Property Group in May 2006, continuing with Vicinity following the merger of Federation Centres and Novion in 2015.
Jonathan Evans has left architecture firm Tzannes after nearly 24 years to set up his own practice, specialising in timber construction and consultancy. Evans, who was appointed director in 2001 and an owner in 2007, has delivered more than 100 major projects, including the multi-award-winning International House and Daramu House commercial buildings for Lendlease at Barangaroo.
Built has promoted Kaitlyn Davidson to head up strategic business growth. Davidson has been with Built for nearly two years, following three years as RLB’s client relationships manager and six years with the Property Council.