Avison Young's Chief Innovation Officer Departs For CBRE

John Sikaitis, a national expert in commercial real estate data analytics, is joining the world's largest CRE services firm.

CBRE has hired Sikaitis, who previously served as Avison Young's chief innovation officer, as a senior vice president in the firm's CBRE Platform division, the company announced Tuesday. He plans to start work at CBRE's D.C. office March 15.

The firm said in its announcement that Sikaitis' hire will improve its efforts to provide data analytics and technology solutions to its commercial real estate clients.

“We look forward to his help in driving innovation and further differentiation across our enterprise, particularly in winning business and producing superior solutions for our clients," CBRE Platform CEO Vikram Kohli said in a statement.

When Sikaitis joined Avison Young in July 2019, the CIO role represented a substantial shift in the type of work he undertook.

Previously, he spent 15 years with JLL working on market research and producing statistical reports the firm would publish widely. He also helped build JLL's data platform and develop analytics models for brokers. 

His role at Avison Young was a more client-facing one, he told Bisnow when he made the move in 2019. Rather than publishing reports publicly, he worked with the firm's clients around the world on data analytics projects. He also served on Avison Young's global executive committee. 

Sikaitis said in a statement Tuesday that commercial real estate is at a "critical juncture" and is "evolving into a knowledge-based industry." 

"CBRE’s scale and ambition position us to be the global leader in digital real estate solutions for our clients," he said. "I cannot wait to partner with CBRE leaders to seize this opportunity.” 

His hiring comes at a tumultuous time for the brokerage sector and specifically for CBRE, which has engaged in cost-cutting measures including laying off workers and this week putting its plans for a new headquarters tower on hold.