Equity Residential taps new CEO, CFO

After more than a decade as Equity Residential‘s CEO and president, David Neithercut will step down at the end of this year.

The Chicago-based real estate investment trust has tapped Mark Parrell as Neithercut’s successor, company representatives announced Tuesday. Parrell will immediately assume the role of president and will be appointed CEO after Neithercut retires on Dec. 31.

Neithercut, 62, has served as president and CEO since 2006 and will continue to serve on the firm’s board after he retires. For nearly the same period — since 2007 — Parrell was the company’s executive vice president and chief financial officer.

Robert Garechana, senior vice president and treasurer of the company, has taken over Parrell’s role as CFO and executive vice president.

“Of a board’s many responsibilities, the constant identification and development of executive talent are among the most important,” Sam Zell, the company’s founder and chairman said in a statement. “Mark and Bob’s promotions are a direct result of the priority placed by our board on succession planning and are the most recent examples of a very successful and rigorous process that has served the company and its shareholders well.”

By its own count, Equity Residential owns or has investments in nearly 80,000 apartments across 306 properties primarily located in Boston, New York, Washington, D.C., Seattle, San Francisco and Southern California.

Earlier this year, the company went into contract to sell a 503-unit Upper West Side apartment building to a joint venture of the Dermot Company and a Dutch pension fund for more than $400 million.