Personnel News From JLL, Marcus & Millichap, Merchants Capital
Hestir Joins JLL EPC Team
The JLL Valuation Advisory group hired professional engineer Benjamin Hestir to join its Environmental and Property Condition team as a Project Management Director specializing in environmental site assessment.
In his new role, Hestir will be responsible for the technical review of various environmental reports, providing management and oversight of Phase II projects and the mentoring and development of assessment staff. He comes to JLL with more than 29 years of experience in environmental due diligence investigations for property acquisitions, including Phase I and II environmental site assessments, management of third-party due-diligence reporting for multifamily projects, industrial hygiene/indoor air quality assessments and development of environmental health and safety programs.
In addition to being a professional engineer, Hestir holds various certifications including Certified Asbestos Inspector. He holds a Master of Science degree in environmental systems engineering and a Bachelor of Science degree in agricultural engineering from Clemson University.
Led by Managing Director Jeff Manas, the EPC service team offers Phase I Environmental Site Assessment and Phase II Oversight Management, along with property condition assessments, zoning reports, seismic studies, ALTA surveys and green evaluations. The new service line was announced in April. It expanded JLL’s capabilities to provide a suite of EPC services through a single source of ordering, faster access to high-quality data for engineering, environmental and valuation products, a non-disruptive and optimized approach for collection of field data and helping clients manage real estate risk.
Based in the Greenville, S.C., area, Hestir will report to Senior Project Management Director Ken Voyles.
Marcus & Millichap Hires Strokis as SVP, CMO
Marcus & Millichap, Calabasas, Calif., hired Andrew Strockis as Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer. Strockis joined Marcus & Millichap from a seven-year tenure at Charles Schwab, where he served as vice president and head of retail client and product marketing.
As CMO, Strockis will oversee all corporate marketing and branding personnel and functions. He will work closely with the company’s leadership and sales teams to gather input, design and implement next-generation marketing tools, campaigns and initiatives.
Prior to working at Charles Schwab, Strockis served as an executive at Accenture, where he advised numerous global organizations on their most pressing strategic opportunities.
Merchants Capital Hires Girard as Executive Vice President
Merchants Capital, Carmel, Ind., hired Barbara Girard as Executive Vice President of Asset Management and Servicing, based in Dallas.
Merchants Capital is an approved Ginnie Mae Seller/Servicer, nationally ranked FHA lender and Fannie Mae Affordable and Freddie Mac Optigo Lender. In addition to these programs, Merchants Capital is a full-service tax credit equity syndicator and originates and services loans and investments on behalf of its parent company, Merchants Bank, and proprietary capital partners.
Girard’s primary charge at Merchants Capital will be to enhance the loan surveillance and asset management systems and teams, as Merchants continues to grow and evolve its investor base and product types.
A graduate of Babson College, Girard has over 20 years of commercial real estate asset management experience. Most recently, she served as Managing Director of Asset Management at NewPoint Real Estate Capital, formerly Barings Multifamily Capital.
Prior to Barings, Girard was an asset manager at Prudential Financial and tax credit syndicator MMA Financial, a predecessor firm to Boston Financial.
