Canada
People & Company News for January 5, 2024
- The Canadian Real Estate Association has named Janice Myers as its new CEO. She has more than than 20 years of real estate board leadership experience, recently as CEO at the Ottawa Real Estate Board. Before then, she held the post of executive-director with the Okanagan Mainline Real Estate Board in B.C. Ottawa-based CREA represents approximately 160,000 realtors across Canada.
- Heddle Shipyards has changed its name to Ontario Shipyards. “The name Ontario Shipyards embraces Ontario’s shipbuilding legacy and articulates a vision to complete the revitalization of shipyards in Ontario so that the province can once again become a global leader in ship repair and shipbuilding services,” said the company, which operates shipyards in Hamilton and other locales, in a news release. “We will do so by modernizing and revolutionizing shipyard operations and building a highly skilled and motivated workforce.” The shipyards had operated under the Heddle brand for more than 35 years.
- Commercial real estate industry veteran Joshua Vargheze has joined Trez Capital’s board of governors. Varghese was a founding partner and president of Axia Real Assets, a partnership with CI Financial Corp. focused on private market real estate on behalf of global investors. Prior to joining Axia, he served as a vice-president and portfolio manager at CI Global Asset Management for nearly 15 years, overseeing approximately $5 billion in real estate equities. As the lead portfolio manager on the Signature Real Estate Pool and co-manager of the Sentry Global REIT fund, First Asset Canadian REIT ETF, Signature High Income fund and Signature Diversified Yield fund, Varghese actively engaged with portfolio companies on strategic-level decisions. Traz is a Vancouver-based diversified real estate investment firm. It also provides commercial real estate debt and equity financing solutions across North America.
- Mathieu Bolté will leave his position as executive vice-president and COO for BTB REIT on February 23 to pursue another professional opportunity. BTB has launched a formal search for his replacement. BTB invests in industrial, off-downtown core office and necessity-based retail properties across Canada. The REIT owns and manages 75 properties representing a total leasable area of approximately 6.1 million square feet.
- Aecon Group founder John Beck has been appointed to the Order of Ontario. Beck has overseen the construction of some of Canada’s most well-known landmarks, including the CN Tower, the St. Lawrence Seaway, Vancouver’s Skytrain light-rail transportation network and Montreal’s Trudeau International Airport.
- Julie Di Lorenzo, president of Mirabella Development Corp., has also been appointed to the Order of Ontario. The Order described her as “a trailblazing developer revitalizing urban life.” She is among few women who head real estate companies. Mirabella ranks among Canada’s leading development companies. Di Lorenzo also earned the appointment based on “her passion for green initiatives” that “redefines the industry,” her efforts as a member of the Ontario Housing Affordability Task Force and her volunteer work.
- The Order of Ontario has also welcomed Blake Hutcheson, president and CEO of OMERS, to its fold. OMERS is acronym for the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System, one of Canada’s largest institutional commercial real estate investors. The announcement on Hutcheson’s appointment praised him for playing a large role in creating thousands of jobs through the investments that its real estate arm, Oxford Properties, have made.
