Dermody Properties Names CEO, JLL Property Management Appoints COO, Cushman Expands Capital Markets Team

Dermody Properties, a national private equity real estate investment and development company focused exclusively on the logistics sector, has named a new chief executive.

Though their day-to-day responsibilities and involvement in the company will remain unchanged, Douglas A. Kiersey Jr. has taken on the role of chief executive officer while retaining his position as president of the company, and Michael C. Dermody will now serve as executive chairman of the Reno, Nevada-based firm.

“The recognition of this title change for Doug is long overdue,” said Dermody in a corporate statement announcing both moves. “Doug’s leadership of the company has been at a CEO level for many years. I look forward to working closely with him for years to come.”

Dermody will remain chairman of the company’s advisory board and continue his responsibilities as a member of its executive and investment committees. In addition, he plans to continue his long-standing protocol of signing every lease himself.

Dermody Properties was formed in 1960, and Michael Dermody joined in 1972 and became president and CEO of the company in 1982. Under his leadership, the firm grew from a local developer into one of the leading investment managers in the industrial and logistics real estate sectors.

Kiersey joined the company in 2011, and since then he’s seen the firm develop and acquire industrial and logistics properties with an aggregate value of more than $8 billion.

Today, Kiersey oversees all company operations and strategic initiatives, including capital formation, acquisition, development and investment management. He sits on the company’s advisory board and chairs the company’s executive and investment committees.

Kiersey has more than 35 years of experience in logistics real estate across major U.S. markets. He previously spent 17 years at Prologis in various senior roles, and before that worked at Cushman & Wakefield. Kiersey is a member of the Urban Land Institute and the Society of Industrial and Office Realtors, and holds an MBA from the J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University, where he is a guest lecturer and member of the Kellogg Real Estate Advisory Council.

Ryan Room has been appointed chief operating officer of JLL’s property management business line.

Room succeeds Kristin Mueller in the role. Mueller was recently appointed president of retail property management for the Chicago-based brokerage firm.

Room brings more than 20 years of commercial real estate industry experience, having most recently served as regional property manager for JLL’s greater Philadelphia region, where he oversaw 85 office properties in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware. He joined JLL more than eight years ago as a general manager in the Indiana market.

JLL has selected Caroline Gadaleta as the new regional manager for greater Philadelphia, expanding her responsibility for the New York tri-state to oversee the newly combined region. Gadaleta has been with JLL for 12 years and previously oversaw a portfolio totaling 27 million square feet of managed space.

Investment sales professionals Scott J. Prosser and Jack DePuy have joined Cushman & Wakefield’s Northern California capital markets group in San Jose.

Prosser joins the firm as vice chairman, and DePuy will serve as an executive managing director. They join the established and top-ranking institutional investment team of Seth Siegel, Steve Hermann and Ryan Venezia.

The pair brings decades of combined experience in capital markets to the firm, having represented institutional and private capital clients with the acquisition and sale of industrial, office and flex research and development properties throughout the Silicon Valley.

Prosser and DePuy both join Cushman & Wakefield from CBRE’s Northern California capital markets institutional properties team. Prosser has more than 33 years of real estate experience and has sold or leased over $22 billion in commercial properties throughout his career. DePuy has 16 years of experience and was involved in over $8.5 billion in private and institutional sales throughout the region.

Catie Naranjo has joined MG Developer as its chief development officer.

In her new role, Naranjo will manage investor and lender relations, handle underwriting and financial review, coordinate various arms of the development team, establish and track project budgets, and assess market trends and development opportunities.

The announcement comes as the luxury boutique developer in Coral Gables, Florida, closes in on the $1 billion benchmark for developments, including its proposed 472-unit Merrick Parc in Miami and the 560-unit Metro Parc now under construction in Hialeah.

Naranjo brings years of experience in real estate finance and design. She has spent the past 12 years managing development projects ranging in size from small private ventures to large-scale, high-profile residential projects. Naranjo earned a master of real estate development degree from the University of Miami.

Cushman & Wakefield has hired Micki Strain as managing director and Foster Bundy as a senior associate with its industrial sales and leasing team in Phoenix.

In her new role, Strain will specialize in institutional industrial investment sales with the brokerage firm’s national industrial advisory group’s Mountain West team led by Executive Vice Chairman Will Strong. Bundy will focus on industrial leasing and private capital sales with the firm’s Phoenix industrial leasing team led by Vice Chairmen Mike Haenel and Andy Markham.

“Micki and Foster have emerged as rising stars within our industry, and we’re excited to welcome them to the team and to continue adding exceptional talent to the firm. The focus of our business is to exceed our clients’ goals by showing quantifiable results and advise them through the conditions of any market and/or economic cycle,” said Bryon Carney, Cushman & Wakefield’s Arizona market leader, in a corporate statement announcing the hires.

Strain most recently served as a senior vice president with JLL in Northern California, where she received the firm’s Rookie of the Year award in 2017. Bundy was previously a senior adviser with LevRose Commercial Real Estate.

Eric Stone has been promoted to managing director of Avison Young in New Jersey.

Stone succeeds Jeff Heller, principal and executive director, who is remaining at the firm to focus on his occupier services practice.

In his expanded leadership role, Stone will focus on talent recruitment, client services and business development across the Garden State, in addition to collaborating with service line leaders and supervising day-to-day operations.

Stone joined the brokerage as a principal and regional director of real estate management services in late 2021. He brings more than three decades of commercial real estate experience, having worked for a variety of institutional and third-party management firms across the Northeast.

Brian Whisenhunt has joined Friedman Real Estate as managing director of commercial property management in Farmington Hills, Michigan.

In his new role, Whisenhunt will oversee the management and administration of Friedman’s 18 million-square-foot portfolio of office, industrial and retail properties in addition to mentoring a team of 30 property management professionals, overseeing property operations and budgeting, implementing capital improvements and contract management, and handling client and tenant relations.

Whisenhunt brings more than 25 years of experience in property management and construction. He holds the certified shopping center manager designation from the International Council of Shopping Centers and a bachelor’s degree in building construction management from Purdue University.

Commercial real estate brokerage Greenstone Partners is expanding its market presence in Wisconsin, hiring Kelly Rodenkirk as a director and Amelia Bifano as an investment associate.

In her new role, Rodenkirk will focus on the acquisition and disposition of investment properties in the region. She joins Greenstone from Cushman & Wakefield | Boerke, where she focused on retail sales and leasing for local and national firms.

Bifano will join the team led by Senior Director Kristian Sydow and will focus on urban infill retail and mixed-use property investment sales. She previously worked with commercial tenants and landlords in retail and multifamily sectors across North America.

International design firm Ware Malcomb has promoted Yamini Mudaliar to studio manager, architecture in the firm’s Atlanta office.

In her expanded role, Mudaliar will help lead the growth and management of the Atlanta architecture studio in addition to managing select projects.

Mudaliar brings more than 16 years of industrial experience. She joined Ware Malcomb in 2019 as a project manager with the advanced manufacturing team before being promoted to senior project manager and then to senior project architect. Mudaliar is a registered architect in Georgia and Texas and holds a master of urban and regional planning degree from the University of New Orleans as well as a bachelor of architecture degree from the University of Karnataka in India.

Regional commercial real estate brokerage SVN | Miller has hired Sam Shoge as an adviser in Easton, Maryland.

In his new role, Shoge will focus on industrial, office and retail brokerage throughout the Delaware, Maryland and Virginia peninsula.

Shoge brings years of economic and community development experience, having previously served as the county’s economic development coordinator and as an executive with the county’s chamber of commerce, where he helped guide the local business community through the pandemic while launching new programs and increasing revenues. He’s also worked directly with senior business executives across the healthcare, manufacturing, financial services and hospitality sectors.