Karen Brennan
Karen Brennan is Chief Financial Officer of JLL, a leading global professional services firm in the real estate and investment management industry. Karen is responsible for maintaining the company’s financial strength. As a member of the Global Executive Board, Karen shapes and delivers JLL’s strategic vision and transformation agenda. During her more than 20-year tenure with LaSalle and the broader JLL organization, she has successfully held leadership, investment, asset and portfolio management roles across the organization in a variety of markets around the world. She had experience in the global commercial real estate sector while based in Chicago and Baltimore in the United States, Singapore, Hong Kong and London. In her prior roles, Karen developed expertise across wide-ranging aspects of finance including forecasting, asset management, underwriting, credit facility negotiations and asset restructuring.
Karen Brennan Professional Experience / Academic History
Professional Experience
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Chief Financial Officer
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Chief Executive Officer, Europe, LaSalle Investment Management
Academic History
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Master of Business Administration
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Bachelor of Business Administration
As CEO for LaSalle Europe, she had overall responsibility for business strategy across six offices managing approximately $22 billion in assets under management.
Karen joined LaSalle’s Baltimore office in 1999 in Acquisitions and moved to Chicago in 2001 to take on Asset and Portfolio Management.
From 2008 to 2012, she relocated to the firm’s Singapore and Hong Kong offices where she held the role of Portfolio Manager, ex-Japan, for LaSalle's Asia Opportunity Funds.
She played a critical role in the restructuring and stabilization of the region’s business following the Global Financial Crisis.
After returning to the U.S. in 2013, she has led LaSalle’s Americas Custom Accounts group, which has over $10bn AUM and includes some of the firm’s largest and longest-standing institutional investor clients.
While in Singapore and Hong Kong, she served as Portfolio Manager, ex-Japan for two opportunity funds and developed strategic investment initiatives following the Global Financial Crisis.
She also served on LaSalle’s Global Management Committee, chaired its European Management Board, and was a member of the Americas Investment Committee and Private Equity Board.