OMERS boss joins CBRE board

The president and chief executive of one of Canada’s biggest pension funds has been appointed to CBRE’s board of directors.

CBRE said the appointment of Blake Hutcheson, who runs the £120bn Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System, would bring “strategic thinking and keen insights” to the board.

Brandon Boze, CBRE’s board chair, said: “Blake is an astute businessman and investor. Our board will benefit enormously from his varied experience as a real estate investor and operator.

“We look forward to the strategic thinking and keen insights he will bring to our efforts to drive CBRE’s continued success.”

Hutcheson said he was “thrilled to be re-joining” CBRE, a company he knows “intimately both as a client and longtime employee”.

He added: “CBRE is well positioned strategically and operationally to thrive across market cycles, and I look forward to working with my fellow directors to extend the company’s outstanding track record of growth and excellence in client service.”

Hutcheson was made chief executive of OMERS in 2020. Prior to that he served as its chief pension officer, with responsibility for the pension business, strategy, communications and public affairs, legal, technology and operations, as well as asset liability management.  He was chief executive and chief investment officer of Oxford Properties, OMERS’s real estate investment subsidiary with property investments around the world.

Earlier in his career, Hutcheson was head of global real estate at private equity firm Mount Kellett Capital Management and chair and president of CBRE’s operations in Canada and Latin America.

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