Jaime Lee is out as CEO of Jamison. Her brother Garrett Lee is taking the corner office.
A company spokesperson confirmed the shakeup and said she stepped back to pursue other activities. Jaime is now on retainer as a senior advisor for the company co-founded by her father Dr. David Lee, who purchased real estate on the cheap during the 1990s recession and L.A. riots.
She was one of only a few female Los Angeles commercial real estate CEOs — and one of The Real Deal’s top 100 L.A. players. The company, which she helmed for six years, was named after her.
Garrett was president of the Koreatown company’s Jamison Properties unit, and it is unclear if he has dropped that title. Their other brother Phillip Lee is president of Jamison Services.
In an interview with TRD last year, when asked how she ended up ahead of her siblings at the family company, Jaime said: “I am the oldest and I’ve been in the business for the longest period of time. I think I have a skill set and a personality that make me attuned to a leadership role.”
She touted her experience serving on more than 30 corporate and civic and nonprofit boards, too.
“I don’t know if it’s a chicken-and-egg thing with being an eldest daughter,” she added. “If you just grow up and you are naturally responsible for younger people, then maybe you learn to talk to different personalities in different ways, and to intrinsically lead.”
Jaime said it was always believed that she’d become CEO.
Jamison has an about 18-million-square-foot portfolio that includes apartments, offices and retail spots throughout Southern California, which has seen some distress. David Lee is the sponsor on four loans connected to real estate in Koreatown and downtown that landed in special servicing: 811 Wilshire, Equitable Plaza, Central Plaza and City Center on 6th. The collective balance of the special-serviced debt was about $230 million, as TRD previously reported, but the around $50 million loan on the mall is now out of special servicing, according to Morningstar Credit.
Jaime filmed a conversation with Los Angeles Times Studios before she stepped down, but it was published afterward in late March with a note on the change. It is unclear when exactly that change occurred.
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