A board reshuffle at a Singapore-listed data centre REIT leads this week’s collection of personnel moves in Asia’s real estate industry, as Digital Core REIT names a new chairman and CFO. Adding to the turnover this week is a director retirement at Sun Hung Kai Properties and a new ESG voice at Singapore’s Kuok Group.
The manager of Digital Core REIT on 4 September unveiled a set of changes to the board of directors of the Singapore-listed trust, including non-executive director David Lucey (pictured) taking over the chairman role from Jeff Tapley, who is leaving the board to become chief commercial officer with the REIT’s sponsor, Digital Realty. As part of the same transition, Dave Craft, vice president for acquisitions with Digital Realty, will take on the REIT’s chief financial officer role as incumbent Daniel Tith also returns to responsibilities at Digital Core REIT’s sponsor. Serene Nah, managing director and head of Asia Pacific for Digital Realty will also join the REIT’s board as a non-executive director from 1 October.
Sun Hung Kai Properties said on 7 September that Wu Xiang-dong will not seek re-election to his role as an independent, non-executive director of the company when its annual general meeting is held on 2 November. Wu, a former executive with China Fortune Land Development and China Resources Land, had joined the Hong Kong developer’s board in 2019 in a move which some analysts saw as a way to improve ties with mainland China’s state-owned sector.
Alibaba Group, which owns logistics player Cainiao, is continuing to reshuffle its top ranks with the company’s former CEO and chairman Daniel Zhang now set to leave the company entirely after having been redesignated as head of its cloud services division in June of this year, according to a Bloomberg report. Zhang was originally scheduled to move into his new role on 10 September.
Max Tang has joined smart parking specialist HyperPark Ltd in Shanghai as chief commercial officer, according to a LinkedIn update. Tang joins the joint venture between Herrenknecht AG and SKV Invest GmbH of Germany after six years at Sino-Ocean Group, where he had served most recently as a director. Tang also has previous experience with KaiLong Real Estate and Goodman Group in Shanghai.
Komi Rajdev has joined Kuok Group in Singapore as general manager for group sustainability, according to a LinkedIn update. Rajdev joins the holding company controlled by the family behind Kerry Properties and Shangri-La Hotels after more than three years with Moody’s Investors Service in Singapore, where she had served most recently with the ESG Relationship Management team for Asia Pacific.
JLL announced on 4 September that it has appointed Farazia Basarah as country head for Indonesia, replacing James Allan, who was recently named chief executive officer for JLL Middle East and Africa. Basarah will takes on her new role after 12 years with the property consultancy, where she had served most recently as head of logistics and industrial, based in Jakarta. The graduate of Indonesia’s Institut Teknologi Bandung also has a master’s degree from University College London.
Savills announced on 6 September that it has hired Ruben Koh as co-head of international residential sales in its Singapore business. The hire comes two months after Savills brought Adrian Lim on board as head of the company’s International Residential Services (IRS) team in Singapore, with the two leaders now set to work side by side after having earlier been colleagues at Colliers. Koh joins the property consultancy from local agency Crestbrick, where he had worked as its “Key Executive Office.”
Singapore-listed Pavillon Holdings said earlier this month that its chief operating officer, Kok Nyong Patt has retired from his role at the age of 64. On the same day, the company named Chinese national Bai Yun as an executive director on its board with the 36-year-old having worked as chief people officer and human resources director of the company’s New Development hospitality business since 2018.
If you know of other Asia real estate professionals changing their jobs, getting promoted or just doing something exciting, please contact us here at Mingtiandi.
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