Savills Studley, a New York-based real estate firm with a strong presence in northern New Jersey, has named former Mack-Cali Realty Corp. CEO Mitchell Rudin as its next president, it announced this week.
Rudin will join the firm Oct. 1 and take over as president on Jan. 1, 2019. He succeeds Michael Colacino, who is stepping down at the end of the year, after 27 years with the firm.
“Michael has been by my side for nearly three decades, and has been a fantastic partner in helping me acquire, lead and ultimately merge this outstanding organization,” Chairman and CEO Mitchell S. Steir said in a prepared statement. “… I am confident that, in Mitch Rudin, we have found the best possible candidate to replace Michael as president. Over the course of his remarkable career, Mitch has expertly guided some of the country’s leading real estate service and development firms through periods of rapid growth and dramatic transformation.”
Rudin was named CEO of Mack-Cali in June 2015 and named vice chairman in April 2017. He had announced his departure from the real estate investment trust in June.
“I am thrilled to join the talented team at Savills Studley at this exciting stage in its evolution,” he said in a statement. “Over the years, the firm has invested heavily in forward-thinking technology and has strengthened its professional teams both in the C-suite and across the country.”
Colacino had been with Savills Studley since 1991, serving as president since 2002, after he and Steir led the buyout from founder Julien Studley. He was one of the leaders of the firm’s merger with London’s Savills plc in 2014.
The former systems designer intends to build a software company focused on “PropTech” — property technology — as his next endeavor.
“I’ve spent the last 30 years advocating for the application of software and analytics to real estate,” he said in a statement. “It is exciting to see those ideas acquiring enormous momentum in the industry. I am eager to combine my background in software with my experience managing broker operations to change and improve our industry.”
