JLL's Top Executive For Americas Leasing Quits Weeks Into The Job
Michael Colacino, a 35-year brokerage veteran, quit his job at JLL less than a month after he was promoted to lead leasing operations across a large part of the world.
Colacino resigned from his post as CEO of JLL’s Americas Leasing Advisory segment, a spokesperson for the brokerage confirmed to Bisnow Thursday. Colacino’s exit comes roughly two years after he first joined JLL to run its operations in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut.
JLL promoted Colacino to his most recent position early last month, and he formally took over the job on Jan. 15, replacing John Gates, who moved to an executive chairman position.
At the time, Colacino said he was honored to “build on John’s tremendous success” and would leverage JLL’s growing technology platform to “drive smarter real estate decisions and outstanding client results.”
Colacino didn’t respond to a request for comment Thursday, and JLL declined to provide details on what led to the departure, which was first reported by Commercial Observer.
Karen Brennan is taking over the Americas leasing leadership role while continuing to serve as the global CEO for JLL’s leasing advisory business.
“I'm energized by the strong momentum we've built and look forward to leveraging that foundation to accelerate our growth initiatives, expand our market share, and capitalize on the significant opportunities ahead of us,” Brennan said in a statement.
Colacino arrived at JLL from SquareFoot, a proptech brokerage, where he began as president in 2019 before becoming CEO in 2022. He served seven months in the top spot before leaving to start a consulting firm called Haiku Partners, according to his LinkedIn.
He was previously a president at Savills for 16 years and was part of the team that helped broker Time Warner’s leases in Columbus Circle and Hudson Yards. He also led the management buyout of brokerage Studley before its 2014 acquisition by Savills, according to JLL.
Joseph Caridi, another brokerage veteran, joined JLL in January to take over Tri-State operations after Colacino’s promotion. It was a return to the region for Caridi, who less than two years earlier moved to South Florida to run operations for Cushman & Wakefield. Before that, he oversaw Long Island Westchester County in New York, along with Connecticut, for the brokerage.
Caridi was part of a reshuffling of the leadership deck across the major brokerages in South Florida. But executives are swapping desks across the country as major firms look to pick up top talent after pausing during the pandemic-driven lull of transactions.
