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Cassidy Turley CEO Finds New Challenge At CB Richard Ellis

John Frager is eager for a new challenge.

After eight years as president and chief executive officer of locally based Cassidy Turley BRE Commercial, Frager is leaving the firm. He will lead the Office Services Group for commercial real estate services giant CB Richard Ellis Group Inc., overseeing brokerage and investment operations in the United States, Canada and Latin America.

The move marks a return to the company where Frager spent the first 16 years of his commercial real estate career, starting in 1986. “The big thing for me is that it’s a test of my skills, and I really appreciate the challenge,” Frager said in a phone interview last week.

Cassidy Turley said Sept. 27 that Chief Operating and Chief Financial Officer Jonathan Freeman is replacing Frager on an interim basis.

The publicly traded CB Richard Ellis Group, based in Los Angeles, is a Fortune 500 company with approximately 29,000 employees at more than 300 offices worldwide, including operations in San Diego.

$30 Billion in Transactions

CB Richard Ellis said its Americas office group, which Frager will head as executive managing director, accounted for more than $30 billion in office sales and leasing transactions in 2009. Frager will oversee a service line with more than 1,500 professionals, and their associated support staff, who serve owners, investors and occupiers of office properties throughout the Western Hemisphere.

“John possesses a rare collection of skills and attributes that make him ideal to take the reins of this critical segment of our business,” said Christopher Ludeman, president of CBRE’s Americas brokerage division. “He thinks deeply, plans thoughtfully and executes collaboratively.”

CB Richard Ellis, listed as CBG on the New York Stock Exchange, announced that Frager is joining the company Sept. 29.

Frager has a business administration degree from the University of Southern California, and joined CB Richard Ellis following a six-year stint as a U.S. Navy helicopter pilot. He served CBRE in several sales and management positions in Colorado and California.

Frager left CB Richard Ellis in 2002, and was among a group of 17 real estate professionals who established the local BRE Commercial operation. The firm subsequently grew to more than 150 employees and formed an affiliation with brokerage firm Grubb & Ellis Co., which ended early this year when BRE joined seven other firms around the nation to form a network of commercial brokerages branded as Cassidy Turley.

Frager said it was tough to leave Cassidy Turley BRE Commercial, but he felt he could not pass up the new opportunity.

“It was a great job and I loved my time there,” Frager said. “Those eight years allowed me to work with a great group of people to do something very entrepreneurial.”

Interim Solution

Cassidy Turley BRE appointed Freeman, a former executive with Intel Corp., as acting president and CEO, effective immediately. Freeman will serve in both roles while the selection of a successor is conducted, and will also continue to serve as a key adviser to the company’s board of directors and management team.

“We wish him well,” Freeman said of Frager. “John has built a very strong organization and leadership team here, and we will carry on with what he established.”

Frager said he had asked Cassidy Turley BRE leaders not to disclose his new job in its initial announcement of his departure, because he did not want to overshadow the brokerage firm’s first National Leadership Conference. The gathering, set for Sept. 29 to Oct. 1, was expected to draw nearly 900 Cassidy Turley professionals from around the globe to downtown San Diego.

Frager’s switch to a major rival is the latest in a series of affiliation and leadership changes that have swept through the local commercial real estate community this year.

In March, shortly after its split with BRE Commercial, Santa Ana-based Grubb & Ellis re-established its San Diego presence by acquiring local brokerage firm Commercial Realty Advisers.

Grubb & Ellis has since bolstered that office’s agent and management team by hiring personnel away from competitors, including Lee & Associates and Voit Real Estate Services.

Among prominent past shakeups, global commercial brokerage firm Cushman & Wakefield in 2008 acquired locally based Burnham Real Estate, which was founded in 1891 and had established a big regional presence, employing 250 agents at five offices in San Diego County, Temecula and Las Vegas.

That followed Cushman’s 2006 acquisition of San Diego Corporate Real Estate Advisors.

Competition Abounds

Steve Rosetta, executive managing director of Cushman & Wakefield’s San Diego office, said the local commercial brokerage market has long been highly competitive and subject to personnel shifts, as brokers seek out career opportunities. How Cassidy Turley BRE Commercial fares long-term will depend on who succeeds Frager on a permanent basis.

“John has done a very good job of leading and growing that company,” Rosetta said. “You really need someone with that kind of prior experience in that position, especially when you’re going up against a lot of companies with a global presence.”

Mark Read, senior managing director of CB Richard Ellis’ San Diego region, said Frager will be based at the company’s office in the University Towne Center area but will not play a major role in the local day-to-day operations because of his responsibilities elsewhere.

“But we are very fortunate to have him home-based in San Diego,” Read said. “You can never have too much intellectual capital.”

Frager has numerous ties to San Diego, where he has been a leader of civic groups such as Big Brothers Big Sisters of San Diego County. But he expects to be traveling extensively at the outset for his new job, as he absorbs details of the company’s office operations across North, Central and South America.

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