QuadReal Property Group is experiencing some significant changes within its board of directors, including the departure of chair Thomas Garbutt and the appointment of R. Scott Hutcheson as his successor.

Garbutt has been a member of the board since its inception in 2017, and became chair in 2018. 

Hutcheson joined the QuadReal board in September 2023 and brings over 30 years of executive experience across public, private and not-for-profit organizations to his new role. 

Hutcheson is the executive chair of Aspen Properties, a privately held commercial real estate company based in Calgary. He is also the chair of Invest Alberta Corporation and has several decades of board experience including an ICD designation.

"It has been an honour to have been part of QuadReal's journey since its inception,” Garbutt said in the announcement. “After nearly a decade QuadReal has grown from its strong Canadian roots to a global organization that manages over $94 billion assets under management worldwide. It exemplifies a real estate organization that deeply cares for its people, clients, tenants and residents and the communities it operates in."

In other moves, Rita Achrekar and J. Lorne Braithwaite are also retiring from the board after serving since 2022 and 2017, respectively.

"QuadReal is deeply indebted to Tom for his thoughtful leadership and strong commitment to our organization,” QuadReal CEO Dennis Lopez said in the announcement. “We have greatly valued Tom, Rita and Lorne's support and their meaningful impact on our growth and successes in challenging market conditions."

Qu hires inaugural leadership team

Qu Data Centres has hired senior executives as the new firm takes control of the nine former Rogers data centres which were acquired by InfraRed Capital Partners.

James Beer has been installed as chief executive officer, Melanie Pump has been named chief financial officer and Jin Shin is the general counsel.

Beer has had an almost three-decade career within the industry, most recently serving as senior vice-president at Hut 8, a company with interests in digital infrastructure, Bitcoin mining, high-performance computing and data centre services. 

Prior to that, he had a four-year stint as SVP operations at eStruxture Data Centres.

Pump is the former director of financial operations for Cogeco Peer 1 Data Centres, and brings experience across critical infrastructure, software and digital assets. She also served as CFO at Incognito Software, Polymath and Brane Trust Company. Pump is also director and chair of the audit committee of BTCS.

Shin will focus on enabling business growth while mitigating operational risks. He has negotiated deals with global firms including Microsoft, Nasdaq and Oracle during his career, and holds a bachelor of laws degree from the University of Windsor.

Three senior managers promoted at Slate

Slate Asset Management has made three senior leadership promotions, elevating Molly Mahoney to partner, and John Murray and Sayed M. Alaali to managing directors.

Mahoney joined Slate in 2020 and has been instrumental in advancing its capital-raising strategy, helping to expand and diversify the firm’s investor base, establish capital partnerships in new global markets and create new opportunities for investors. She also serves as co-head of community at Slate and is co-chair of the New York City chapter of Women in Real Estate. 

Prior to joining Slate, Mahoney was a managing director on the funds advisory team at JLL and previously held various roles at Bear Stearns, Houlihan Lokey and Heller Advisory. She graduated from the University of Pennsylvania magna cum laude.

Murray joined Slate in 2020 and oversees all legal aspects of transaction execution and structuring for its global investments, in addition to serving as a legal advisor to Slate’s management team. 

Prior to joining Slate, he was an associate at McCarthy Tétrault LLP, specializing in mergers and acquisitions, fund formation, securities and corporate finance. He holds a bachelor of commerce degree from the University of Guelph and law degrees (JD) from the University of Windsor and the University of Detroit Mercy.

Alaali is responsible for originating and executing Slate’s investments in Europe, along with Middle Eastern capital raising efforts. Since joining the firm in 2018, he has played a key role in Slate’s expanding regional team in Europe and is the portfolio manager for Slate’s European open-ended core real estate fund. 

Alaali previously spent six years on the North American real estate investments team at the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board. He holds a bachelor of science in actuarial science and economics from the University of Toronto.

Pellerin departs Ravelin board

Ravelin Properties REIT (RPR-UN-T) has announced the departure of Charles Pellerin from its board of directors after an 18-month stint with the trust. Pellerin had been appointed in June 2024, during the transition from the former Slate Office REIT to the new entity, Ravelin. 

Pellerin has served as the longtime principal partner and president of Pellerin Potvin Gagnon S.E.N.C.R.L., a Quebec-based accounting firm. He joined the firm in 1998, became partner in 2003, and was promoted to president in 2006.

New role for Blades within Sutton Group

Sutton Group’s acquisition of Ottawa-based Homicity means a new role for the company’s former CEO and founder Jamie Blades.

Blades is joining Sutton Group as vice-president, technology, and will continue to be based in Ottawa. He had founded Homicity, an AI-powered home search tool, in 2015.

Concurrent to that role, he also served as a mortgage agent at Lenderoo, and was director of operations at Capital Mortgages for about eight years.

AY adds three new principals in Toronto

Avison Young has hired three new members for its occupier services team in Ontario, naming Jarrod Bogler, Howard Bogler, and Elliot Greenberg as principals and senior vice-presidents.

All three will be based in Toronto, where they have years of experience within the market. 

Over the course of their tenures, the three new principals have completed over 1,500 transactions on behalf of clients representing more than $20 billion in value. Their portfolio covers a broad spectrum of industries and geographies.