CBRE hires former Cushman & Wakefield leader; Savills bolsters Atlanta roster; Piedmont appoints chief financial officer

CBRE appointed Brett Gray as senior managing director and market leader in Charlotte, North Carolina. Gray, who starts in November, will oversee business operations and drive the market’s growth strategy, CBRE said. He succeeds Compie Newman, who is moving to a new role within CBRE. “Brett has gained a solid reputation in the industry for building a culture of success for his teams and clients and will undoubtedly help us drive the region forward," said Chris Connelly, president of CBRE’s advisory services group East, in a statement. Gray comes to CBRE from Cushman & Wakefield, where he had been managing principal in Charlotte since 2017. He has experience in leadership, investor services, project and account management for Fortune 500 companies and mergers and acquisitions.

Savills, the New York-based commercial real estate firm, added Michael Reid and Palmer Thomas to its industrial services team in Atlanta. Reid, who has nearly 40 years of experience in industrial real estate, joined Savills as an executive managing director. He previously worked for seven years at Newmark as a senior managing director, handling 93 sales and more than $700 million in transaction revenue. Thomas is a managing director with a strong track record in leasing, acquisition and disposition of industrial real estate nationwide. Prior to Savills, Palmer was a managing director in JLL’s Atlanta industrial group for nearly a decade. "While many of our competitors are reducing headcount, Savills is aggressively pursuing" brokers to serve its growing client base, said David Rubenstein, vice chairman and Atlanta market leader, in a statement.

Piedmont Office Realty Trust said Sherry Rexroad will succeed Robert Bowers as chief financial officer, effective Nov. 8. Bowers will transition to an administrative role, the Atlanta-based company said. Rexroad has about 30 years of experience in real estate investment trusts, finance and capital markets. She most recently served as CFO of STORE Capital, a publicly traded net-lease REIT. Prior to that, she spent a decade at BlackRock Global Real Asset Securities as global head of business development.

At Piedmont, Rexroad is set to receive a base salary of $475,000 and a target incentive bonus equal to 100% of her salary, with a maximum bonus opportunity of 150%, according to a company filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. Piedmont also said "Ms. Rexroad will also receive a relocation bonus in the amount of $50,000 to support her relocation to Atlanta," according to the SEC filing.

Worthe Real Estate Group, a development and investment firm, has named Chris Graham as chief investment officer. In the newly created role, Graham will be responsible for launching the company’s inaugural fund to opportunistically invest alongside Worthe, according to the Santa Monica, California-based company. The fund will acquire and redevelop institutional-quality, West Coast commercial real estate properties, Worthe Real Estate said. "Attracting an industry leader with the background and expertise Chris brings is a crucial step as we look to launch our inaugural fund and expand our portfolio,” Jeff Worthe, president of Worthe Real Estate, said in a statement. Graham, with nearly 30 years in real estate investment and management, has been involved in more than $50 billion in acquisitions. He previously served as managing director at Blackstone’s real estate group, where he oversaw the West Coast office for eight years. He played a key role in major joint ventures, including the recapitalization of the 3 million-square-foot Sunset Studios portfolio with Hudson Pacific Properties and Worthe Real Estate’s 3.2 million-square-foot media office portfolio in Burbank, California. Before Blackstone, Graham served in senior roles at J.P Morgan and the Archon Group, domestically and abroad.

CBRE Investment Management has appointed Elisabeth (Liz) Troni as lead portfolio manager for the firm’s U.S. core real estate strategy. Troni is based in New York and reports to Julie Ingersoll, chief investment officer for Americas Direct Real Estate Strategies. Troni, who joined CBRE IM in 2019, has 25 years of global real estate investment experience. Meanwhile, Lucy Fletcher has joined as lead portfolio manager for the firm’s global open-end core-plus strategy, succeeding Troni in the role. Fletcher, based in Boston, reports to Achal Gandhi, chief investment officer for Indirect Real Estate Strategies. Fletcher has 25 years of global real estate experience, having spent seven years at QuadReal Property Group in Canada. The new roles will allow Troni and Fletcher "to leverage their shared areas of expertise" for clients, Kim Hourihan, chief investment officer for CBRE IM, said in a statement.