Mark E. Rose, Chair and CEO of Avison Young, the world’s fastest-growing commercial real estate services firm, has announced the strategic hiring of highly regarded industry leaders John Sikaitis, Nick Guglietta and Carl Caputo to lead the firm’s global innovation practice.
Effective immediately, Sikaitis becomes a Principal of Avison Young and Chief Innovation Officer; Guglietta becomes Global Practice Lead, Product Development; and Caputo becomes Global Practice Lead, Data Science. They will be based in Washington, DC and will continue to work as a team to take leadership of, and responsibility for, guiding the firm’s clients, transaction advisors and leadership team around new ideas, processes and products that transform the commercial real estate industry. All three join Avison Young from JLL in Washington, where Sikaitis was managing director of research, advisory and business development; Guglietta was senior director of product, data visualization and analytics; and Caputo was director of research, data and analytics.
“We’re thrilled to welcome John, Nick and Carl to the Avison Young family as we further our efforts to bring best-in-class innovation and disruption to the commercial real estate industry,” comments Rose. “John, Nick and Carl’s industry experience, deep market expertise and bespoke collaborative approach with clients perfectly align with Avison Young’s strategic direction and our desire to find differentiated solutions for our clients’ property and business challenges. All three will play leading roles in the execution of data management, analytics, visualization, client and business intelligence, technological-solution platforms and technology partnerships.”
Rose continues: “In this newly created role of CIO, John will be responsible for building strategy, enhancing processes and introducing products that position our clients effectively in the real estate market and drive our firm and its people to be more efficient and productive in their everyday efforts. Nick and Carl are also assuming new roles that cater to both our clients’ and advisors’ evolving businesses. Nick will focus on the exploration, assessment and implementation of innovative technological solutions to address opportunities across the commercial real estate industry. Carl will partner with our clients, transaction professionals, leadership team and researchers, as well as external service providers, to create a transformational data, analytics and advisory platform that guides the firm’s clients and future clients around the globe. We’re confident that John, Nick and Carl will be tremendous advocates for our clients and outstanding resources for our people. We’re also confident that this new team will reshape not only the trajectory of our firm, but the entire industry.”
Sikaitis brings 17 years of commercial real estate experience to Avison Young. Reporting to Martin Dockrill, Avison Young Principal and COO, Global Operations, Sikaitis will sit on the firm’s global executive committee and help guide the company’s overall aggressive growth strategy and strategic direction.
“The addition of John, Nick and Carl demonstrates Avison Young’s commitment to advance our service offering in an ever-changing business environment,” notes Dockrill. “The new team has a proven track record of formulating ideas and executing on products and technologies that are intuitive to clients’ needs and express the voice of the real estate professional. We look forward to the new vision and offerings that the team will provide for our clients and company in the areas of data management, analytics, visualization, technological architecture, service delivery and go-to-market strategy. John, Nick and Carl’s diverse and complementary skill sets, youthful energy and inspiring passion will help drive innovation throughout our company and can be applied to every asset class and service line for years to come.”
“We are extremely excited to join Avison Young at this critical time of industry evolution and future disruption to help fast-forward our clients’ objectives and our real estate advisors’ productivity,” says Sikaitis. “We were attracted by Avison Young’s focus on always placing clients first and the firm’s ability to be deeply organized in its processes, smart and bold in its investment, and fast and nimble in its decision-making and service delivery. These factors provide the perfect foundation for our team and partners to experiment with ideas, processes and products that will redefine the commercial real estate industry’s landscape and composition.”
The hiring of Sikaitis, Guglietta and Caputo comes on the heels of the appointment of leading property markets analyst Nick Axford as a Principal of Avison Young and Global Director of Research on July 3, 2019.