Colliers Restructures at the Top

By Keith Loria, Contributing Editor

Jay Hennick

Colliers International Group Inc. has named Jay Hennick as its new chairman & CEO, following the resignation of Douglas Frye from the CEO position.

Hennick founded FirstService Corp., the former parent company of Colliers International, in 1989, and served as its CEO until earlier this month when he led the separation of FirstService into two publicly traded companies.

“In some respect it’s not a new position. FirstService has owned Colliers since 2004 and we have executed a strategy of internal growth and acquisition virtually from the time we entered the commercial real estate space,” Hennick told Commercial Property Executive. “We feel that we have great experience and a tremendous track record of both strong internal growth and acquisition, but also think we understand the key characteristics and features that drive the growth of the business and so it’s not new for us.”

Colliers also named Dylan Taylor as president to go along with his already-owned chief operating officer title.

“Dylan has been COO for almost 18 months, running operations of business on a global basis, so we attached the title of president on him because that has a pretty clear role and responsibilities and similar to what we had at FirstService,” Hennick said. “Dylan is a star and I think with the combined team of Dylan Taylor, John Frederickson (long-time CFO) and hopefully myself, we will have a very strong team in an industry ripe for consolidation. There are so many opportunities to grow and continue to grow for years and years and years in this exciting industry.”

According to Hennick, the resignation of Frye came as something of a surprise to the company.

“Doug has been a 12-year veteran of Colliers and has done a very nice job as the company grew, but this was a natural inflection point going public, and that’s why it made sense for him to resign,” he added. “We have a strong management team in place so I don’t see any further changes.”

Looking ahead, Hennick said the company’s growth strategy will remain intact; a balance of strong internal growth augmented by strategic acquisitions as it continues to enhance its global platform in key markets around the world.

Colliers global revenue exceeded $2.3 billion (including affiliates) in 2014 and the company was ranked fifth among the top 100 outsourcing firms by the International Association of Outsourcing Professionals for the 10th consecutive year, also receiving the highest ratings for service delivery excellence.