EastGroup Properties promoted four employees to executive-level positions as part of the industrial REIT's focus on long-term growth.

The company, based in Ridgeland, Mississippi, is promoting Reid Dunbar to president from his former role as head of its central region and Staci Tyler to chief financial officer from chief administrative officer and chief accounting officer.

Brent Wood, the company's former chief financial officer, will fill the newly created role of chief operating officer. Michelle Rayner will take over as chief accounting officer.

"Their promotions reflect our confidence in their ability to grow and drive shareholder value," CEO Marshall Loeb said in a press release. "We’ve experienced meaningful growth and believe we are well positioned to continue executing our strategy and capitalizing on the strength of our portfolio.”

The personnel moves come as EastGroup's industrial performance is showing signs of improvement.

EastGroup's leasing across its portfolio "improved materially" from a slower second quarter, Loeb said on the company's Q3 earnings call, with both the number of leases signed and square feet rising. Those metrics were also improved from the third quarter last year.

Loeb said the market remains somewhat bifurcated, with the company converting prospects looking to lease 50K SF or less, but larger users are still operating cautiously.

The company expects industrial supply to take longer to catch up with increasing demand than it has historically, which will put upward pressure on rents, Loeb said.

EastGroup did not return Bisnow's inquiry for further comment.

"Our goal is to capitalize earlier than our private peers on development opportunities based on the combination of our team's experience, our balance sheet strength, existing tenant expansion needs and the land and permits we have in hand," Loeb said on the earnings call.