Bruce Mosler To Take More Active Role In Global Dealmaking At C&W
By Daniel Geiger August 2, 2012 1:37 pm
reprintsIn an exclusive conversation with The Commercial Observer, Cushman & Wakefield (CWK)’s CEO Glenn Rufrano and Bruce Mosler, a top leasing executive at the company, revealed that Mr. Mosler will take on a greater role overseeing global dealmaking at the firm.
Mr. Mosler is C&W’s chairman of global brokerage and his title will not change, but Mr. Rufrano said he will help manage multinational accounts to coordinate which personnel are engaged in servicing such clients and to make sure the company’s various service lines such as property and project management, consulting and appraisal are being appropriately engaged where necessary.
“It’s going to be about partnering people up, making sure that the accounts get the right exposure and working with people here to make sure we’re employing the best practices on every global account,” Mr. Mosler said.
Mr. Mosler said his goal was to standardize the quality of C&W’s service across broad geographies. The company has offices throughout Europe, Asia and South America and Mr. Rufrano said that Mr. Mosler’s management would help it better realize the potential of its global platform.
“The globalization of the firm has long been there,” Mr. Rufrano said. “One of our initiatives has been on globalizing management.”
Mr. Rufrano said overseas brokerage deals account for about 50 percent of the company’s revenue and hence were a priority.
Mr. Mosler was CEO of C&W for five years before stepping down to return to brokerage in 2010. Mr. Rufrano, a former chief executive at the Australian real estate company Centro Properties, was hired to lead C&W as Mr. Mosler’s successor.
During his tenure as chief executive, Mr. Mosler spent time traveling to the company’s overseas offices and is familiar with the top personnel and capabilities of many of the company’s major international branches. His understanding of the company’s global reach was one of the factors that helped Mr. Mosler win the agency assignment last for Manhattan West, a five million-square-foot mixed use office complex that Brookfield (BN) Properties is planning west of the Farley Post Office building. Mr. Mosler put together an international team to service that prominent account in order to cast a global net for potential tenants who could anchor the massive, over $1 billion project.
Mr. Mosler’s promotion would appear to place a brokerage executive back into the fold of C&W’s global management platform in what could be a bid to enhance its business development and transactional capabilities for commercial office deals. Mr. Rufrano comes from a corporate management background and his hiring was widely seen as move to tighten the balance sheet of a firm that has not been as profitable as rivals. With his background as a landlord of retail space at Centro, Mr. Rufrano has been more a force building the company’s retail dealmaking capabilities and deepening its relationships in that sector versus office tenants and landlords.
The new role also increases Mr. Mosler’s involvement at C&W after a period during which he was rumored to be considering a move to other brokerage companies, including Newmark (NMRK) Grubb Knight Frank and Colliers (CIGI).
“We appreciate Bruce and we want him to continue working here,” Mr. Rufrano said.
