Savills tapped Janet Woods, who had served as president of its United States East region, to help oversee the brokerage's business in North America, where revenue dropped last year due to a sluggish economy and lingering uncertainty about workers returning to offices.

Woods is filling the role vacated by David Lipson, who was promoted to CEO of Savills North America.

In her new role as president, Woods will oversee the firm’s revenue-producing function and work with local and regional leaders across North America to execute the brokerage's short- and long-term objectives, Savills said. The firm will not fill the role of East regional president, a spokesperson said.

Woods has had a significant effect on Savills' business and culture since joining the London-based firm five years ago, Lipson said.

“Her key role in undertaking major initiatives, ranging from high-level recruitment to the development of our long-term strategic plan, which she has successfully delivered is testament to this promotion,” Lipson said in a statement. “She will be at the forefront of the strategy to continue to diversify our service lines, as well as scaling the business to differentiate Savills from our competitors.”

Savills' North America region accounted for 13% of the brokerage's revenue of nearly $2.8 billion, or 2.2 billion pounds. The region's revenue fell 12.5% to nearly $374 million last year as real estate business in North America was stymied by a slow office market, tepid growth and higher inflation and interest rates.

"In North America, the office market remained sluggish as economic uncertainty, questions over the return to offices, particularly in the major metropolitan markets of the East and West Coast, and slowing employment growth caused" companies to put off big leasing decisions, Savills said in its 2023 annual report.

The office and industrial markets in the United States, however, are showing some positive signs, Savills said.

"There is a bifurcation in the office sector that partly exhibits signs of both cautious recovery and resilience due to a high demand for Class A space that is centrally located" and has amenities that 'earn the commute' of employees," Savills said. "In contrast, older and outdated office space continues to struggle, prompting an increase in conversions to reposition these buildings — a strategy that could eventually lower the availability rate and ultimately bring the overall office market closer to equilibrium."

In the industrial market, tenants are gaining as average demand clashes with increased supply and results in higher vacancy rates and "downward pressure on rental rates," Savills said.

"However, these rates are still significantly higher than they were two years ago. Despite record amounts of speculative development, higher interest rates have led to a slowdown in construction, which will help mitigate further increases in vacancies as supply tightens again."

Woods' commercial real estate career has spanned 30 years. In addition to her work at Savills, she has served in brokerage and executive roles at JLL, Cassidy Turley, Cushman & Wakefield and the Stan Johnson Co.

Savills North America has over 1,000 employees and more than 40 offices.