Movers: Savills Continues Texas Recruitment With JLL Hire

With two new hires at Savills’ Austin office, the British firm’s years-long Texas expansion campaign is spreading across the Texas Triangle.

The London-based commercial real estate firm hired former JLL Senior Vice President Kelley Sigl and Austin entrepreneur Frank Hartmann as senior managing director and managing director, respectively, of the Austin team, according to a press release.

Sigl came to Austin from Seattle in 2021 and has experience at Kinzer Partners, PitchBook Data and Washington Partners, according to the release. Hartmann founded an independent Austin commercial real estate advisory firm, SquareDirection, but comes to Savills most recently from an economic development role at Opportunity Austin.

The Austin hires follow Savills’ recruitment in Dallas and San Antonio. Last month, Savills announced that industrial broker Eric Crutchfield had joined its Dallas office after 13 years at Stream Realty. In January 2025, Savills announced that former NAI Partners managing director and CBRE alum Clare Flesher joined the San Antonio office as managing director.

Elsewhere in Texas, the Houston office of Westlake Village, California-based national commercial real estate firm Lee & Associates hired Blaine Sinclair as director. Sinclair formerly worked at Jackson Cooksey and Madison Marquette, previously known as PMRG, and founded independent CRE firm Z Group, according to a Lee & Associates press release.

Former Lee & Associates Senior Vice President Kim Hillman, who was also once a director at Colliers, is now a senior vice president at Houston-based commercial real estate firm Oxford Partners, according to a press release. Hillman will be responsible for growing Oxford’s industrial presence in the Port, Baytown and Grand Parkway areas, the release stated.

Minneapolis-based commercial real estate firm Northmarq promoted Dallas team stalwart Jeffrey Erxleben to president of capital markets, according to a press release. Erxleben has worked at Northmarq for 23 years.

In San Antonio, Jeff Miller assumed the role of market lead for the local office of JLL, according to a press release. The office also appointed Brian Kates head of the office tenant representation group. Both have been with JLL for more than a decade.

In Dallas, Chris Wong joined Partners Real Estate as an equity partner, according to a Partners news release. Wong comes to Partners from roles at Bradford Commercial Real Estate, where he was a land and industrial broker, and at Austin Industries, where he worked as a real estate and tax director. Wong will focus on building the firm’s industrial outdoor storage practice.