People moves: Collins joins OMERS Infrastructure as strategic partnerships director

OMERS Infrastructure, COIMA, DWS, ImpactA Global, Mapletree Logistics Trust, HMC Capital, Macquarie Group, Sidley Austin, Realty of Chicago

OMERS Infrastructure — Francesca Collins has been appointed director in the firm’s strategic partnerships team. Collins will be responsible for the development and implementation of the investor relations strategy for the firm’s third-party capital platform. She joins from InfraRed Capital Partners where she was capital formation group, product specialist. Prior to joining InfraRed in 2016, Collins had stints at Cebile Capital and Resonance Asset Management.

DWS — Matthias Naumann has been appointed CIO, real estate for Asia Pacific based in Sydney. He relocates from the asset manager’s Frankfurt headquarters. He is DWS’s first  ‘on the ground’ real estate CIO. In his new role, Naumann will be responsible for identifying real estate investment opportunities across Asia Pacific where DWS already has an established presence in Australia, Korea, Japan and Singapore working with their respective country heads, as well as exploring new markets for strategic growth. Naumann joined DWS in 2013 as the head of European real estate strategy. Since 2019 he has served as the CIO of the European real estate platform. Since January 2021, he has covered APAC as the real estate CIO in a caretaker capacity alongside his European responsibilities. Prior, Naumann served as a senior analyst at AXA Investment Managers, London and for Invesco Real Estate in Munich.

Coima — Jesse Freitag Akselrod assumes the position of chief performance officer and deputy head of asset management. Formerly European head of advisory at Green Street – a role in which he has worked with Coima since 2016 – Akselrod has over 20 years of experience in the areas of due diligence, research and development, private market valuation and REITs, helping to optimise portfolio performance. Paola Rusconi, has taken the role of director of infrastructure, leading the development of this asset class. Rusconi’s previous roles include director of sustainable infrastructure Europe at DWS. Marco Scalvini assumes responsibility for Coima SGR’s residential investment programmes, as well as becoming director of the Coima ESG City Impact fund. Luca Mangia, has been promoted to general manager of Coima REM. Mangia has worked at Coima for 20 years, initially in development management, with his projects including Porta Nuova, and then in fund management with responsibility for the Coima ESG City Impact fund. Ferruccio Resta has joined the board of Coima’s real estate development and management business Coima REM, as an independent director. Previously, Resta was the rector of the Politecnico di Milano and was also president of the Conference of Italian University Rectors for three years. Among other positions he currently holds, he is president of the Bruno Kessler Foundation. Alessandro Rivera has taken on the role of president of MilanoSesto SpA, to help give new impetus to one of the largest real estate development projects in Europe. Rivera served as director general of the Italian Department of the Treasury for 23 years. Méka Brunel has been appointed to the steering committee of the Coima ESG City Impact Fund. Brunel has extensive international experience in real estate investment, with previous roles including executive president of Ivanhoe Cambridge and former Europe and CEO of Gecina. She is the current president of Fondation Palladio. Brunel joins the independent members on the steering committee for the fund.

Mapletree Logistics Trust — Jean Kam Sok Kam has been appointed CEO following the resignation of Ng Kiat. Kam will be transferred to Mapletree Investments to assume new responsibilities with the sponsor.  She is presently the head of investment of the Mapletree Logistics Trust Management, the manager of the listed vehicle, and is responsible for sourcing and evaluating acquisition opportunities for MLT. She was previously responsible for overseeing the operational and asset performance of MLT’s portfolio of properties across the eight geographic markets in Asia Pacific. Prior to joining the manager in September 2007, Kam began her career with JTC Corporation,  where she was involved in the development, marketing and lease management of JTC’s industrial facilities for 10 years. 

ImpactA Global – The women-led infrastructure debt specialist for the emerging markets has appointed Clodagh Bourke as head of fundraising and Lindsey Bass as head of marketing and strategic partnerships. Bourke brings over 17 years of experience in distribution, most recently serving as head of product management at Aptimus Capital Partners. She has a strong background in fundraising for private markets vehicles with a focus on emerging markets strategies, including nearly 10 years at Development Partners International. Bass joins ImpactA with 18 years of experience in sales, marketing and relationship management. In her previous role as head of consultant relations at Legal & General Investment Management, she was responsible for leading the strategic relationships with the investment advisors to UK institutional investors.

HMC Capital — Matthew Lancaster has been appointed to chair the firm’s private credit platform. Lancaster was previously a senior managing director at Macquarie Group, where he was employed from 2002 to 2020. During his time at Macquarie, he served as the US head of principal finance and was a member of Macquarie’s Management Committee in the US. As chair of HMC’s private credit platform, he will play a key role assisting the firm establish a A$5bn diversified private credit platform spanning multiple credit strategies. He will also guide HMC’s expansion into the larger and more complex areas of private credit market including corporate loans, private     

Realty of Chicago – Eddie Garcia, the real estate agency’s CEO, will be stepping down from his position to embark on a new venture. Garcia, who has been at the helm of Realty of Chicago since its founding in 2012, is set to launch his new project this September. Realty of Chicago has decided to announce the appointment of a new CEO at a later date.  

Sidley Austin – Ben Thompson has joined Sidley’s global finance practice in London focused on energy and infrastructure. He joins Sidley from Travers Smith where he was a partner in the finance group and Infrastructure Sector group and, prior to that, part of the private equity Infrastructure team at Weil, Gotshal & Manges. Thompson has a well-established practice focusing on energy and infrastructure financing, advising PE Infrastructure sponsors as well as banks, direct lenders, and noteholders across the full range of infrastructure finance transactions.