Cushman & Wakefield Inc. has tapped O’Connor Capital co-founder Glenn Rufrano to replace Bruce Mosler as president and chief executive officer.
Rufrano, who will also be appointed to the company’s board of directors, will join the firm March 22 following the completion of his tenure as CEO of Centro Properties Group. He will be based in New York.
A respected real estate veteran, Rufrano has been at the helm of public REITs and in the private real estate investment arena over two decades.
Since 2008, he has been CEO of Australia-based Centro, and he served as CEO of New Plan Excel Realty Trust Inc. from 2000 to 2007.
Before New Plan Rufrano co-founded The O’Connor Group (now known as O’Connor Capital Partners), which has invested in real estate internationally. He also spent more than five years at Landauer Associates Inc. where he was involved in the sale of some of the most prominent office properties in the United States.
The board of Centro said the role Rufrano played in stabilizing the company during one of the most turbulent markets in recent years "could not be understated," noting that he was leaving the company with a platform for future growth.
Rufrano’s expertise in the capital markets arena, not to mention his global perspective, is bound to be a boon to C&W in the current environment where the lending rules have been re-drawn and the "big four" jostle for world-wide dominance.
Carlo Barel di Sant’Albano, a Cushman & Wakefield board member and chief executive officer of EXOR S.p.A., the investment company of the Agnelli family and the majority shareholder of Cushman & Wakefield, said Rufrano’s experience make him the ideal leader to expand the C&W brand worldwide.
A graduate of Rutgers University, Rufrano holds a master’s degree in real estate from Florida International University. He serves on the boards of General Growth Properties Inc. and NYU Real Estate Institute, and was director of Trizec Properties Inc. and Criimi Mae Inc.
Rufrano is replacing Bruce Mosler, who was appointed co-chairman last October in a move the company said then would direct his skills to growing global brokerage business.