Cresa Adds Cathrine Cotman, John Salazar and Theresa Hopkins-Johnson to its Global Portfolio Solutions Team

This article was originally published on CityBizList Washington, D.C.

Cresa, the world’s largest occupier-centric commercial real estate firm, today announced the addition of Cathrine Cotman, John Salazar, and Theresa Hopkins-Johnson to its Global Portfolio Solutions team. Cotman and Salazar will serve as Global Alliance Directors, tasked with growing the company’s Global Portfolio Solutions services and providing clients with customized real estate offerings that align with overall business objectives. Hopkins-Johnson will serve as the group’s Global Finance Director, providing financial strategy and streamlining accounting processes for Cresa’s portfolio accounts.

Cotman joins Cresa with over 25 years of corporate real estate experience. She specializes in developing portfolio strategies, driving measurable improvement in P&L performance, KPIs, and employee engagement, and spearheading cross-functional change initiatives. Before joining Cresa, Cotman served as a Senior Managing Director at Newmark Knight Frank, and prior to that, she was a Senior Managing Director at Cushman & Wakefield. She held previous positions at Bank of America, Capital One Financial Corporation, Jones Lang LaSalle, and Prudential.

“I’m excited to be joining Cresa’s Global Portfolio Solutions team,” said Cotman. “Cresa’s unique occupier-centric platform and global service offering make them the ideal partner for companies seeking real estate solutions to advance their business goals. I’m looking forward to bringing my corporate real estate expertise to Cresa’s clients as we continue to innovate and break new ground both globally and domestically.”

Salazar will lead Cresa’s newly acquired work with Silicon Valley Bank, counselling on global real estate strategy. He brings over 25 years of experience in the real estate and financial industries to Cresa, specializing in strategic planning, operational excellence and risk mitigation. Prior to Cresa, Salazar served as the Global Head of Financial Management at Cushman & Wakefield, and before that, he was a Senior Vice President at Bank of America.

“Our clients manage real estate portfolios across the globe, presenting them with opportunities and challenges,” said Salazar. “It’s important that throughout this process, we act as a trusted partner that can help them identify and resolve business challenges while implementing a real estate strategy that aligns with long-term business goals.”

Hopkins-Johnson brings over 20 years of financial and real estate experience to the Global Portfolio Solutions group. She will play a lead role in ensuring the financial integrity of Cresa’s portfolio accounts, specializing in process improvement, reporting consistency, and MSA compliance. Prior to joining Cresa, Hopkins-Johnson acted in various finance leadership roles for CBRE, Cushman & Wakefield and, most recently, Newmark Knight Frank. Throughout her career she has served large, portfolio clients such as UnitedHealth Group, American Express, Cisco, Siemens, Dow Chemical and others.

“I am pleased to welcome Cathrine, John, and Theresa to the Cresa family,” said Jim Underhill, CEO, Cresa. “Together, they bring over 70 years of combined real estate experience and a skilled expertise managing real estate portfolios globally - they will play an integral role as we grow and build upon the success of our Global Portfolio Solutions group to better serve our occupier clients.”

In addition to these strategic hires, Cresa also completed the acquisition of Portfolio Solutions Group (PSG) in early 2019. A full service lease administration, accounting and abstracting firm, PSG – since renamed Cresa Lease Administration (CLA) – is managed by Jeffrey Tosello, Managing Principal and Founder, and Meredith Kern, Principal. Based in Chicago, Illinois and with a new Center of Excellence in Dallas, Texas, the group reports to Lisa Fry, Executive Vice President of Enterprise Accounts and leader of the Global Portfolio Solutions team. CLA continues to grow and has welcomed six new lease administration professionals to the team since the beginning of the year. The lease administration acquisition presents opportunities to integrate processes and technologies with other core Cresa services, providing an end-to-end solution for Cresa’s clients.