From the retail issue: Not long after he was named vice chairman and head of North America Retail Services for Cushman & Wakefield, Gene Spiegelman was summoned by then-CEO Edward Forst. That was two years ago, and it was when Spiegelman first heard the news: Rival DTZ was buying the global real estate services firm for $2 billion — and he would be overseeing the integration of the two companies’ retail-services operations.
At first, the news wasn’t entirely welcome.
Spiegelman, now 52 years old with an estimated 900 deals under his belt, had been looking forward to using his position to make new inroads in the U.S., as well as Canada and Mexico. Now that would be put on hold as the deal maker spearheaded the retail side of the merger, traveling around the world, visiting retail operations and helping to form a new platform.