People moves: JLL appoints Stepan EMEA sustainability consulting head | News

Knight Frank, Quadrant, AlphaReal, Bidwells, Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield, JLL, AXA IM Alts, GridStor, NW Natural, Roofstock

JLL – Paul Stepan has been appointed head of sustainability consulting for Europe, the Middle East and Africa. In this newly created role, Stepan will be responsible for leading all aspects of the growth and management of JLL’s sustainability consulting business in EMEA and supporting clients on their decarbonisation journeys. Previously, Stepan served as JLL’s client sustainability solutions lead for investor and occupier clients in EMEA. Prior to joining JLL, he served as director for sustainability solutions for ENGIE Impact where he focused on designing and implementing sustainability strategies. He was also head of policy, strategy, and compliance at energy management business Verco.

Quadrant – The UK real estate asset management and development company, has appointed Alice Vaughan as associate partner. Vaughan will play a key role in supporting Quadrant’s asset management team with its out-of-town retail real estate. Vaughan joins from Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield where she was responsible for leasing deals across the company’s UK portfolio, commercialising vacant spaces and managing occupier relationships.

AXA IM Alts – Philippe Grasser has been promoted to head of European transactions. Based in Frankfurt, Grasser will oversee the sourcing, selection and execution of AXA IM Alts’ European acquisitions. As part of his new role, Grasser will contribute to the investment strategies for AXA IM Alts and its clients and will be a member of its investment committee. Grasser joined AXA IM Alts in 2021. While remaining a managing director in the German business, many of Grasser’s responsibilities for German activities will pass to Ulf Bachmann who will become CEO for Germany, alongside his current role of chief transformation officer real estate. Bachmann joined the business in 2018. In addition to his current responsibilities, Bachmann will be responsible for overseeing the overall operation of the Alts business in Germany. Emilie Jaskula has been appointed to the newly created role of global head of offices within the asset management team. Jaskula has been at AXA IM Alts for almost twelve years, most recently as head of asset management for France. She will be responsible for driving the business’ global offices strategy, overseeing the active asset management of AXA IM Alts European offices portfolio.

GridStor – The Goldman Sachs Asset Management-backed developer and operator of grid-scale battery energy storage systems has appointed Frank Burkhartsmeyer CFO. Burkhartsmeyer was most recently executive vice president of strategy and business development and CFO at NW Natural, a natural gas distributor. Prior to his role at NW Natural, Burkhartsmeyer served as president and CEO at Avangrid Renewables. He also served as managing director of corporate strategy at ScottishPower and treasury director at PacifiCorp.

AlphaReal – The specialist manager of secure income real assets has appointed Mark Futyan as a senior adviser and independent chair of their diversified renewables income fund. Futyan currently serves as a non-executive director on the boards of Anesco and Origami Energy. He was CEO at Anesco until January 2023 where he oversaw the development and construction of over 500MW of solar PV and energy storage projects. Prior to that, he held a series of executive roles at Centrica.

Bidwells – Mark Callender has been appointed research partner. In his new role, Callender will be focused on the commercial markets across the Oxford-Cambridge Arc, including driving Bidwells’ research on the region’s science and technology clusters. Callender joins from Schroders, where he was head of real estate research. Prior to joining Schroders in 2006, Callender was the research director for the Investment Property Databank Index, where he was responsible for its European indices. Before that, he was the chief economist at the Housebuilders Federation.

Knight Frank – James Hodgetts has joined as partner in the occupier strategy and solutions department, responsible for the Middle East and Africa region. Prior to joining Knight Frank, he served as a director at a professional services firm specialising in commercial real estate and investment management. 

Roofstock – The real estate services and investment platform has appointed Justin Yagerman as its new head of capital markets and Paul Briggs as its new head of research and investment strategies. Prior to joining Roofstock, Yagerman served as head of business development at Invesco Private Capital. Prior to joining Roofstock, Briggs served most recently as managing director, head of US research at BentallGreenOak.