Los Angeles-based CBRE Group Inc., the world's largest commercial real estate services firm, has announced that Brett White will retire as CEO at the end of the year. Robert Sulentic, who currently serves as CBRE's president, will succeed White.
White joined CBRE's predecessor company, Coldwell Banker Commercial, as a sales trainee in 1984. He has held a variety of sales and management positions, becoming president in 2001 and CEO in 2005. He will remain a member of the company's board of directors following his retirement.
Sulentic joined the company in 2006 with the acquisition of Trammell Crow Co., where he was serving as CEO at the time of the merger. He also served as CBRE's group president for the EMEA, Asia Pacific and Development Services businesses and chief financial officer before becoming president in 2009.
‘Executive development and succession planning has been a key to our success,’ says White (pictured left). ‘Bob has been my partner and senior advisor in running CBRE for more than five years. He has had responsibility for all of our business units, so he is the logical choice to succeed me, and it is something we have discussed and planned for years. Bob is a time-tested veteran and very talented senior executive who knows our people and operations intimately and is highly regarded by our investors, analysts and, most of all, our professionals around the globe. I look forward to seeing Bob and our team lead CBRE to its next remarkable chapter of success.’
