Rochelle Park-based ZRG, a leading global talent advisory firm, on Wednesday announced a major expansion of the firm’s rapidly growing worldwide Real Estate and Facilities Practice.
With the addition of Jamie Griffiths-Mead and Robert Johnston in its London office and Alan Walker in San Francisco, ZRG has bolstered its global reach and presence in the real estate sector.
The practice has been built under the direction of longstanding practice leader, Kevin Jones, joined by Matt Slepin with the acquisition of Terra Search Partners in 2022. In 2023, the addition of Helbling & Associates, a boutique search firm focused on the facilities professionals and corporate real estate, further expanded ZRG’s reach and capacity in the sector.
ZRG’s comprehensive Real Estate Practice has made significant advancements over the past several years. It is now capable of serving clients in both real estate-specific leadership roles and broader real estate leadership roles for organizations as a functional attribute.
“In real estate, companies succeed over the competition based on the strength of their team, their business platform, and the culture that drives their business,” Larry Hartmann, CEO of ZRG said. “The sector is not defined by businesses at any one point on the scale from local to multinational. Today, the real estate business has increasingly become institutional and global in nature, and evolving business technologies are supporting the evolving needs of the business across the globe.”
About the new hires:
Griffiths-Mead joins ZRG from his previous position as partner in the real estate practice of executive search firm Granger Reis, where he led the Real Estate Funds & Advisors business across EMEA & North America. Prior to that, he was a consultant in the Real Estate practice at Carmichael Fisher Executive Search, operating across Europe, Australia, the Middle East, and Asia Pacific. His areas of focus are board/executive committee search, independent investment committee/non-executive search, capital markets leadership, M&A, debt advisory, equity placement, loan servicing, fund management, occupier services & ESG, and environmental consultancy leadership.
Walker has produced $10 billion in principal real estate and alternative asset investments and transactions with leading global firms and regional start-ups across his 25-year career. He started his career on Goldman Sachs’ international trading desk in New York before going on to be an early partner and head of acquisitions at Swift Real Estate Partners in San Francisco. Later, he led the restructuring of regional teams and turnaround of a multi-billion-dollar portfolio for Blackstone’s EQ Office.
Johnston draws upon 20 years of experience in real estate and executive search. His expertise encompasses business origination and delivering best-in-class results for clients, underpinned by a strong focus on execution, delivery, and relationship-building. He brings in-depth knowledge of the sector and a well-established network across the UK, Ireland, and the European continent. He earned his BSc Hons, Property Valuation & Management from Limerick Institute of Technology and his MSc, Project Management from the University College Dublin Michael Smurfit Graduate School of Business, Ireland’s leading business school.
