• JLL has hired Scott Barras as the company’s new work dynamics head for Canada. Barras will execute a strategic vision to help clients primarily based and operating in Canada drive maximum value from their real estate portfolios. He has 18 years of experience in corporate real estate, recently focusing on portfolio transformation and project management across Europe, the Middle East and Asia Pacific. Newly based in Toronto, he joined JLL from Standard Chartered Bank, where he most recently serve as global head of workplace experience in Singapore.

• Georges Drolet has been appointed as managing principal of EVOQ Architecture. Drolet has more than 30 years of experience with Montreal-based EVOQ. He has built a diverse portfolio, including commercial complexes, hotels, schools, libraries, high-rise residential, civic, and parliamentary buildings. EVOQ is an award-winning multi-disciplinary firm known. The company has offices in Montreal, Quebec City, Ottawa, and Toronto.

• Alterra Group has promoted Annamalai (Malai) Muthu to CFO. He replaced Sharon Gerwitz following 37 years of service. Gerwitz has remained with the company as vice-president of finance. Muthu joined Toronto-based Alterra in 2022 from Temerty Group, where he served as vice-president a finance and treasurer. Before then, he spent three years as a controller with Allied Properties REIT.

• Samantha Adams and Nandini Somayagi have joined Boardwalk REIT’s senior leadership team. Adams has been named vice-president of investments. Meanwhile, Somayagi will serve as general counsel and corporate secretary. Adams brings more than 20 years of multi-family real estate experience in Canada and the U.S. to the Calgary-based REIT. Adams previously served as a senior vice-president of Pure Multi-Family REIT from the time of its IPO until its sale to Cortland Partners in 2019 for $1.6 billion. Prior to joining Pure, she was one of four principals at the Vancouver-based Sunstone Group. Somayaji has more than 15 years of legal experience. She previously worked with DIRTT Environmental Solutions as senior vice-president of talent while also serving as general counsel and corporate secretary. She has also worked for Deloitte Legal and Bennett Jones.

• Bill Bonnell will retire from his post as National Bank’s vice-president of risk management and chief risk officer in November 2024. He will remain with the bank as an interim advisor. Bonnell joined the bank in 2001 and held leadership roles in credit risk management, proprietary trading and market risk management prior to his appointment as CRO in 2012. During his career, he has chaired the boards of both the Risk Management Association and the International Financial Risk Institute. Jean-Sébastien Grisé, currently a senior vice-president and chief credit officer, will succeed Bonnell. Grisé joined National in 2015. He was appointed to his current role in 2019 after serving in risk management, personal banking, wealth management and small-and-medium-sized enterprise advisory roles.

(Connect CRE will hold its inaugural Canada Kick-off Event in Toronto on June 11. This will be Connect’s first commercial real estate industry conference in Canada. Panelists will include Syl Apps, managing director and co-country head for Hines; Lindsay Brand, chief investment officer at Concert Properties; Mark Kenney, CEO of Canadian Apartment Properties REIT; and, Marie-France Benoit, Avison Young’s director of Canadian market intelligence. Come and gain insights from industry leaders on such matters as buyer sentiment amid a lower interest-rate environment, cross-border commercial real estate transaction trends, and investors’ outlook for 2024 and beyond. Register today.)