JLL has named Senior Managing Director Kevin M. Davis the new Americas CEO of its Hotels & Hospitality division.
Davis, who leads JLL’s Hotel Investment Banking group, brings more than 20 years of hospitality and capital markets experience to the role. Since joining JLL in 2013, he has been involved in more than $20 billion of hotel debt and equity financings.
With a deep background in capital markets, he spent 13 years prior to JLL working in the commercial real estate groups at Merrill Lynch and UBS, in addition to cofounding a debt fund business following the 2008 financial crisis. In these prior roles, he executed more than $10 billion of transactions in hospitality, multi-housing, retail, office and industrial assets. Previously, he worked as an attorney on Capitol Hill, where he served as a policy advisor to members of the House and Senate Banking Committees. He won the 2019 Jack A. Shaffer Financial Advisor of the Year Award at the American Lodging Investment Summit, which honors industry leaders who showcase outstanding ability to foster client relationships and close deals that benefit both parties in a transaction.
This appointment underscores the growing importance to JLL of its Capital Markets business and reinforces JLL’s commitment to be the world’s most strategic, creative and connected real estate capital advisor, the company reports.
“Having the ability to think holistically about a situation and provide advice that contemplates all potential paths to maximize value for our clients is key to maintaining our competitive advantage,” said Gilda Perez-Alvarado, CEO, Hotels & Hospitality Global. “Kevin brings a deep understanding of the entire capital structure and has been involved in every aspect of our business, including sales, financings, joint venture equity placement, restructurings, recapitalizations, loan sales and UCC foreclosures.”
Capital Markets Americas CEO Mark Gibson, added, “In a world where real estate investment is becoming more complex and lines are being blurred across asset classes, we recognize the importance of having a broader Capital Markets product offering for our hospitality clients.”
Furthermore, to support the group’s national growth strategy, Jeffrey Davis, a senior managing director, will now, in addition to his current role as co-head of U.S. Investment Sales Advisory, oversee new business development for Hotels & Hospitality in the U.S., with a particular focus on deepening engagement and connectivity with its largest institutional clients.
“Jeff is one of the best-known and well-respected transaction advisors in the U.S.,” said Perez-Alvarado. “His track record in developing client relationships, closing deals and his knowledge across all of the services offered on our national platform make him the perfect fit to grow all aspects of JLL’s new business development in the U.S. I’m tremendously excited about these key leadership appointments as we look to aggressively grow our business and build on our culture of collaboration, connectivity and innovation.”