Ben Keen joins ESR Australia, Frasers Property boosts its sustainability team with Kate Nason, and Angelo Amara steps into the shoes of John Williams as JLL’s Western Australian managing director.
Ben Keen has joined ESR Australia as head of funds management and capital transactions. Keen assumes responsibility for the company’s capital strategy and partnering initiatives and growing ESR’s funds management business. He’s spent the last two years with ISPT as head of logistics and warehousing and was tasked with creating a $2 billion core logistics development pipeline. He was a long-time fund manager at Dexus, overseeing a $4.5 billion unlisted office joint venture with the Canadian Pension Plan Investment Board. ESR Group is the largest Asia-Pacific logistics real estate group by gross floor area and has more than US$36.3 billion in assets under management across 22.6 million sqm of real estate and land.
Frasers Property Australia has boosted its sustainability team with the appointment of architect and environmental designer Kate Nason as sustainability advisor. Nason has held roles with Atelier Ten, ARKit and Jackson Clements Burrow, and has recently been involved with Development Victoria’s sustainable community developments. Currently director of partnerships and major events for the Australian Passive House Association, Nason will provide technical advice, guidance, education and influence to Frasers Property’s development teams.
After 11 years, JLL’s Western Australian managing director John Williams has decided to step down from the role at the end of 2021 to focus solely on leading the firm’s WA capital markets business. Angelo Amara, JLL’s current WA head of commercial property and asset management, steps into Williams’ shoes. Amara will continue to lead WA’s property management business in conjunction with senior director, Ann Manifis. He currently leads a 50-strong team based in both JLL’s WA head office and various sites around Perth. Amara is currently chair of the Property Council’s Commercial Office Committee in WA. Williams has been a long-term contributor to the Property Council and was a divisional councillor until recently.
Hawaiian has appointed Richard Kilbane as its new chief operating officer. Kilbane moves into the leadership role from his position as general manager for office buildings after 16 years with Hawaiian. A dynamic leader and strong supporter of the Property Council in WA, Kilbane has played an integral role in Hawaiian’s portfolio development, noteably Claremond Quarter, 235 St Georges Terrace and most recently the $50 million refurbishment of the iconic Parmelia Hilton Hotel and the development of Hawaiian’s new headquarters at 177 St Georges Terrace.
After nearly seven years driving sustainability initiatives for Charter Hall, Phil Senn has joined grocery giant Woolworths as senior manager for climate change. Senn is a current member of the Property Council’s Sustainability Committee in New South Wales.
Alison Telfer has joined UBS Asset Management as country head of Australia and New Zealand, taking over from John Mowat who will resume running the firm’s real estate business. Telfer joins from Blackrock where she has worked for the past eight years, most recently as chief operating officer, general counsel, and head of public policy for Australasia.
Chris Duggan is the new national president of the Strata Community Association, and Joshua Baldwin is vice-president. Duggan is the group managing director of the Bright & Duggan Property Group and fills the shoes of outgoing president Andrew Chambers. Duggan has served as president of SCA in New South Wales since 2015, overseeing the establishment of an Australian-first Professional Standards Scheme for strata managers. Baldwin, until now president of SCA in South Australia and Northern Territory, is executive director at Munro Property Group. SCA has more than 3,300 members who look after a combined property portfolio with an estimated replacement value of over $1.2 trillion.