Newmark Group COO Out, Company Prepares To Be Spun Off

Newmark Group Chief Operating Officer James Ficarro has resigned from the company. Neither Ficarro nor the company specified a reason for his resignation. 

Ficarro's departure came ahead of Newmark being spun off by BGC Partners, a move that was announced earlier this month that will take effect at the end of November.

Ficarro had been Newmark's chief operating officer since early 2015, coming to Newmark from Cantor Fitzgerald, where he had worked for more than two decades. 

To facilitate the transition to an independent entity, Newmark has established an operating committee of key senior managers: Chief Revenue Officer Lou Alvarado, Chief Information Officer Raj Bhatti, President, Head of Multifamily Capital Markets Jeff Day, Chief Administrative Officer Alison Lewis and Chief Financial Officer Michael Rispoli. 

The operating committee will report to Newmark CEO Barry Gosin and President of Brokerage Jimmy Kuhn.

According to BGC Chairman and CEO Howard Lutnick, the spinoff will allow Newmark to focus more closely on real estate, and BGC to focus on "technology, hire profitably, and acquire accretively."

Newmark became a publicly traded entity almost a year ago with an initial public offering, and it now trades under the symbol NMRK. Since the IPO, the company has been aggressively expanding, especially in its capital markets and valuation team. 

This spring, the company acquired retail brokerage RKF in a deal that is expected to close by the end of the year. RKF founder Robert Futterman stayed on as chairman of what will be known as Newmark RKF and will oversee the company’s retail expansion, according to Newmark. 

In its second-quarter earnings report, Newmark said it expects to produce 2018 revenues of between $1.975B and $2.025B, which would represent an increase of between 24% and 27% compared with 2017.