James Patterson will lead Knight Frank after six years with Cushman & Wakefield. Meanwhile Ilana Atlas AO joins Scentre Group’s board and Kivanch Mehmet moves to Qualitas Group.
James Patterson is Knight Frank Australia’s new chief executive officer. Patterson was most recently CEO of Cushman & Wakefield in Australia and New Zealand, a position he held for nearly six years. He has also held senior roles with CBRE and JLL. Patterson started his career with Knight Frank 35 years ago. He is a member of the Property Champions of Change coalition. Knight Frank senior partner and group chairman Alistair Elliott says Australia has Knight Frank’s largest business outside the UK. Patterson’s strengths in growing transactional businesses and fostering an inclusive working culture will provide a foundation for the next phase of growth, the company says.
Queensland architectural and engineering firm, McVeigh Consultants, has appointed a new chief executive officer. Yasmine Gray takes over from the firm’s founder Michael McVeigh, who remains in the business and will turn his attention back to his primary passion – design and client relations. Gray has a strong background in marketing, communications, business management and development. She was formerly executive director at communications firm Red Havas.
Scentre Group has appointed Ilana Atlas AO as an independent non-executive director. Atlas is a member of ANZ’s board and a former Coca-Cola Amatil chair. She is also a non-executive director of Origin Energy, a director of the Paul Ramsay Foundation, chair of non-profit Jawun and a panel member of for-purpose advisory firm Adara Partners. She was previously a director of Westfield Group and Suncorp, was general counsel at Westpac and a partner at King & Wood Mallesons.
Kivanch Mehmet has joined Qualitas Group as co-head of institutional capital. Mehmet was head of wholesale investor relations at Charter Hall for four years. Mehmet has 16 years of experience in real estate funds advisory and capital raising, across multiple geographies. Mehmet, who has been replaced at Charter Hall by Kim Barnes, has also held senior roles with MaxCap Group, JLL and NAB.
CBRE has bolstered its capital markets team in Brisbane, with the return of Adelaide O’Brien as an associate director. O’Brien worked as part of the capital markets business in Queensland during a four-year tenure with CBRE, which concluded in January 2020. Having spent the past year working in London as an investment analyst with M7 Real Estate, O’Brien has now relocated to Australia.