PS Business Parks Names Interim CEO, Dan Chandler Takes Medical Leave Of Absence

PS Business Parks is temporarily losing a second CEO in two years due to non-Covid related health reasons.

The company announced Tuesday that its president and CEO, Dan “Mac” Chandler III, would be stepping aside for a non-Covid related leave of absence. Stephen Wilson, a member of the company's board of directors since 2019, will serve as interim president and CEO.

“First and foremost, on behalf of the Board and all the Company’s employees, we wish Mac a speedy and full recovery and look forward to his return,” Ronald L. Havner Jr., PS Business Parks' chairman of the board, said in a release.

The real estate firm also announced it brought back a former executive, Maria Hawthorne, as interim chief operating officer. Previously, Hawthorne had to take a leave of absence from her roles as president and CEO of PS Business Parks for health reasons beginning in April 2020. She retired on Sept. 1, 2020, and she had been serving on the board of directors since her retirement.

Prior to joining PS Business Parks' board of directors, Wilson spent more than 21 years at AvalonBay Communities, where he retired as executive vice president of development in 2019.

PS Business Parks also said that Adeel Khan, formerly chief financial officer at Rexford Industrial Realty, joined the company as CFO and corporate secretary last week. 

The REIT owns 97 properties across major markets like D.C., Miami, Los Angeles and San Francisco. Last year, the publicly traded company's stock rose 38.6% on the back of strong occupancy rates and rising rents, according to The Motley Fool.