JC Griffin joined Transwestern Real Estate Services as a vice president in the firm's Chicago office.

In his new role, Griffin will focus on sourcing and executing capital markets deals in urban core and opportunistic markets across the region.

Part of the Transwestern group of companies, TRS advises clients on agency leasing, asset services, capital markets, investment analytics, tenant advisory and workplace solutions.

Griffin most recently worked with the development services and U.S. capital markets group at Avison Young, where he led investment sales transactions and procured urban project management assignments. Before that, he focused on tenant representation and retail investment sales on behalf of institutional and high-net-worth investors, family offices and conventional landlords at @properties Commercial.

Earlier in his career, Griffin managed personnel, facilities and communications in the public sector and served as a liaison to the White House Opportunity & Revitalization Council.

“JC’s broad industry experience and strong relationships across both the public and private sector give him unique insights that will be valuable to our team and our clients,” said Executive Managing Director Greg Munson in a corporate statement announcing the move, adding that Transwestern remains optimistic when it comes to the Midwest's evolving commercial real estate climate.

A licensed real estate broker in Illinois, Florida and North Carolina, Griffin is a graduate of the national Real Estate Associate Program and Urban Land Institute's commercial real estate academy. He is an alumnus of the John Marshall Law School and North Park University, and an Iraq War veteran. He honorably served in the U.S. Air Force as an enlisted aviator.

Heidi Ray has joined Kidder Mathews as a senior vice president and director of engineering and sustainability for asset services across the firm's 21 West Coast locations.

In her new role, Ray will be responsible for the firm's engineering teams while driving its energy management and sustainability initiatives.

Ray brings 25 years of facilities, construction and commercial building maintenance leadership experience, most recently serving as senior director of facilities and operations at Silverback, and before that as head of facilities and operations at Aptevo.

The Kidder Mathews commercial asset services group manages 62 million square feet of commercial real estate representing over $11 billion in assets under management for investors, public agencies, corporations and nonprofit organizations. Last month, Kidder Mathews named Mark Butcher as senior vice president and asset services market leader in Southern California.

Darwin Realty/Corfac International has promoted Erin Cibula to chief financial officer in Elmhurst, Illinois.

In her new role, Cibula will continue to manage the firm's asset management and accounting departments, as well as oversee its operations, finance and HR functions.

Most recently the director of asset management, Cibula has procured more than $450 million in loan and equity funds for Darwin's investment portfolio, including the recent 90-day closing of a $100 million acquisition and refinance loan for a 42-building Chicago industrial portfolio.

Darwin Realty has also recently promoted Brendan Sheahan, Nick Krejci and Matt Lewandowski to principals with the firm. In the past decade with Darwin, Sheahan has worked on dozens of leases and sales across Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin. Krejci has leased or sold more than 3.1 million square feet in his six years with Darwin. And during the past 20 years with the firm, Lewandowski has participated in more than $940 million of completed transactions.

Stonehenge NYC hired Bashir Elmegaryaf as director of acquisitions.

In his new role, Elmegaryaf will lead the firm's acquisition activities and work with its investment management team, reporting directly to Chairman and CEO Ofer Yardeni.

Elmegaryaf most recently served as assistant vice president of acquisitions and development for Equity Residential, one of the country's largest publicly traded real estate investment trusts, where he led due diligence on $800 million of multifamily and retail acquisitions and oversaw more than $1 billion in dispositions over the past five years, in addition to supporting asset management for 40 properties and nearly 10,000 apartment units.

Wolf Commercial Real Estate hired Erin Warwick as executive vice president to lead its growth in the Pennsylvania and New Jersey markets.

Warwick brings more than 15 years of industry experience representing owners and occupiers while working for several real estate investment trusts and private equity ownership firms throughout her career.

Most recently, Warwick served as an asset manager for Nessel Development, an environmentally sustainable real estate investment firm in southern New Jersey. Before that she was with Liberty Property Trust and then Somerset Properties, where she focused on office leasing and tenant relations for a client list that included Virtua Health, Morgan Stanley, PMA and American Water.

Alan Pekarcik has joined Kidder Mathews as an executive vice president in Irvine, California.

In his new role, Pekarcik will focus on investment property transactions across the Southern California region.

Pekarcik brings more than 35 years of experience and has completed over 1,200 sale and lease transactions totaling more than 62 million square feet of commercial real estate valued in excess of $4.7 billion throughout his career. He most recently worked at Avison Young and Voit Real Estate Services, and before that was a senior vice president of acquisitions at Kilroy Realty.

KPG Funds has hired Joshua Bankhead as senior controller, a new position for the New York-based real estate owner and developer.

In his new role, Bankhead will support the company's goal of managing over $1 billion of office and retail property across New York City, reporting directly to Chief Financial Officer Steve Smith.

Bankhead brings more than 15 years of financial, development and asset management experience. Before joining KPG, Bankhead worked at Gild Park Capital, where he oversaw the acquisition, management and development of its mixed-use real estate portfolio. He also held development and accounting roles at Monday Properties, Blackstone Group and the Rockefeller Group.

Jonathan Hicks and Brooks Shanklin have returned to Edge Realty Partners' Houston office.

As a principal, Hicks will continue to focus on tenant representation and investment and land sales on behalf of national and local companies in southeast Texas. He has more than 15 years of experience in commercial real estate and public accounting, and most recently served as managing principal with SRS Real Estate Partners.

Shanklin returns as a vice president, bringing more than a decade of experience in project leasing, tenant representation and land sales in Houston. He began his brokerage career at Read King Commercial Real Estate, and most recently served as owner of Shanklin Interests.

Centennial Yards Co., the master developer of the $5 billion, 50-acre mixed-use project in downtown Atlanta, hired Ben Reeves as vice president of transaction strategy.

Most recently, Reeves helped oversee investment and development strategy of the Centennial Yards South development as a senior vice president with Stream Realty Partners.

"What we called the Gulch was a remnant of Atlanta's railroad past. Centennial Yards is an extrinsic symbol of Atlanta's future," Reeves said in a statement announcing his move.

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