Mark Jaccom, the former New York chief executive of the real estate services firm Colliers (CIGI) International, has joined CresaPartners.
Mr. Jaccom’s hiring confirms weeks of rumors among former colleagues that he was heading to the firm. The Commercial Observer had on several occasions attempted to confirm the speculation, querying CresaPartners, which refused to comment.
But on Tuesday, a woman answering the phones at the company’s Manhattan office at 100 Park Avenue finally ceded that Mr. Jaccom was now with the company. She said he was unable to comment.
“As soon as he is able to speak, we will contact you,” was all she would say.
Mr. Jaccom had a tumultuous tenure at Colliers, which culminated in him leaving the firm earlier this year.
A former leasing executive at the tenant representation firm Studley, Mr. Jaccom switched over to Colliers’ predecessor, First Service Williams, in 2008 with ambitions to raise the profile of the midlevel leasing firm. Mr. Jaccom had early success and was the architect of the company’s 2010 merger with Colliers, a deal that enhanced its brand, services platform and national and global reach.
Mr. Jaccom himself was a successful leasing dealmaker, arranging the American Society of Mechanical Engineers’ 100,000-square-foot lease at the office building Two Park Avenue last year among other transactions. But he developed a reputation for being an aggressive – some say volatile – leader. His predictions that Colliers would rise to challenge top New York brokerage powers like CBRE and Cushman & Wakefield also appeared to stall after the company failed to attract the top hires he predicted would come on or the big deals he anticipated it would arrange.
Earlier this year, Mr. Jaccom stepped down from Colliers and Michael Cohen, another executive in the New York office took his place. Some say that Mr. Jaccom laid a framework for success however. The company succeeded in bringing on Joseph Harbert, a high level manager at C&W, as its top East Coast executive in recent weeks, a major hire that immediately increased its profile and will likely improve its ability to recruit more talent.
