Breaking News: Cassidy Turley Promotes Stettinius to CEO

By Anna Spiewak, News Editor

Cassidy Turley President & CEO Joseph Stettinius

There’s a new sheriff in town at Cassidy Turley.  The company’s board of directors unanimously voted to elevate president Joseph Stettinius Jr. to CEO status of the commercial real estate brokerage, effective immediately, following the stepping down of Mark Burkhart.

Based out of the company’s Washington office, Stettinius will serve as president & CEO while leading the operations of Cassidy Turley. An industry veteran of 25 years, he served as president of Cassidy Turley since the company’s launch in 2008. Between 2007-2010 he was the CEO of predecessor firm Cassidy&Pinkard Colliers. Earlier, Stettinius was senior managing director of CBRE Group, as a result of its acquisition of Trammell Crow Co., where he served as area director for Trammell Crow’s Mid-Atlantic services business. Stettinius also held executive positions at Equity Office Properties Trust and Jones Lang Wootton, a predecessor of Jones Lang LaSalle Inc.

“My plan is to continue the momentum that we created over the last two years in terms of our growth and expansion; to continue to leverage the success of that with our legacy markets, and expanding our capabilities in some of our key acquisition markets that we have committed to over the last year, specifically–Boston, Atlanta, Houston, Dallas and L.A.,” Stettinius told Commercial Property Executive.

“Joe’s leadership enhances our firm’s ability to capitalize on the significant opportunity ahead,” said Wally Pinkard, chairman of Cassidy Turley in a prepared statement.  “The company has met its growth and development goals ahead of schedule and we are well poised to meet our next set of strategic objectives. This leadership change is consistent with our succession plan and is at a natural time for a shift.”

After 36 years in the industry and more than 20 years as the CEO of Cassidy Turley and one of its predecessor firms, Burkhart decided to step down. The former CEO will still serve as an ongoing adviser to the company. He will also be available as a resource to maintain relationships with clients, shareholders and financial partners.

Pinkard acknowledged Burkhart’s critical contributions over the 20 years: “Mark’s initiatives set in motion our current growth plan.”

“I think (Burkhart) feels we have been successful in our strategy more quickly than we may have anticipated and now is the time to position us for our next phase of growth, so I think he has confidence in the team and he believes now is the optimum time for this transition,” Stettinius added about his predecessor.