(HOUSTON) – Hines, the international real estate firm, is pleased to announce the promotions of Thomas Bay, Bert Brown, Bill Colburn, Kenny Kelley, Dana Morrey, Sandra Porter, David Robinson, Scott Whiddon and Jay Wyper, all at the firm’s headquarters office at Williams Tower.
Thomas Bay has been promoted to Senior Vice President-Conceptual Construction Group. Since joining Hines in 1998, he has been responsible for directing the design of mechanical, plumbing, fire suppression, and building management and control systems for numerous Hines domestic and international projects.
He has implemented this role on 1180 Peachtree in Atlanta; CityCenterDC in Washington, D.C.; La Jolla Commons in San Diego; BG Group Place in Houston; and 300 North LaSalle in Chicago; to name a few.
Bert Brown has been promoted to Vice President-Compensation & Benefits in the firm’s Central Human Resources Department. He joined Hines in 2006 as Compensation Manager and played an integral role in developing timely and consistent market benchmarking practices, developing and updating market-based salary ranges in the U.S., managing the annual salary review process and assisting in the administration of various compensation programs across the firm.
In 2012, he was promoted to Director of Compensation & Benefits, and his responsibilities expanded to include management of the Benefits Department, which is responsible for the development and administration of all Hines employee benefit programs in the U.S.
Bill Colburn has been promoted to Vice President-Controller.
He joined Hines in 1979 in the firm’s Internal Audit group. During his tenure, he worked in Corporate Accounting and the Central Controller group, but his greatest accomplishments have been during his long tenure leading the Ownership Accounting Group. Colburn heads up the team whose responsibilities include providing accounting and financial services to almost 200 entities including not only for the Hines Family, but tier entities for real estate and other investments. In addition to accounting, his responsibilities include liquidity maintenance and cash-flow planning, financing and a steady stream of special projects. The Ownership Group is also responsible for maintenance of corporate records for more than 1,500 business entities, including annual filings and meetings, formations and dissolutions, and signature authority guidance.
Kenny Kelley has been promoted to Vice President-Payroll/HRIS in the firm’s Central Human Resources Department. He joined Hines in 1990 as an accountant for the Central Payroll Department. In 1993, he was promoted to Payroll Manager and was responsible for all Hines U.S. payroll activities. In 2000, he assumed additional responsibilities for Hines’ Human Resource Information Systems (HRIS), and in 2001, was promoted to Director-Payroll/HRIS. Kelley and his staff are currently responsible for all aspects of delivering and reporting compensation for more than 2,300 Hines U.S., Canadian and expatriate employees, payroll tax remittance and reporting to nearly 100 jurisdictions, as well as tracking information for all Hines employees, worldwide.
He led several significant projects including the 1999 implementation of PeopleSoft, the firm’s integrated Payroll/HRIS system, and the firm’s move from PeopleSoft to Workday, which is currently underway.
Dana Morrey has been promoted to Vice President-Human Resources with a focus on Employee Relations, Recruiting, and Training and Development. She joined Hines in 2004 as a one-person recruiting department.
In 2008, she was promoted to Director of Recruiting and continued to provide full-scale recruiting services across the U.S., including the coordination of the firm’s college recruiting programs. In 2011, her responsibilities expanded to include employee relations, and she was promoted to Director of Employee Relations & Recruiting.
Her team implements and manages the firm’s background screening processes, handles the research and communication of U.S. employee policy updates, and is a resource to all of the firm’s employees and managers for employee relations issues. During her career, she implemented Hines’ first applicant tracking system, and developed several manager-training programs focused on recruiting, strengths-based performance management and employee relations.
Sandra Porter has been promoted to Vice President-Corporate Marketing.
She joined Hines in 2007 as a Senior Manager in the firm’s Corporate Communications Department, and in 2010 was promoted to Director, Corporate Marketing and Business Development.
She serves as a central resource to Hines and its regions worldwide in the areas of corporate and project marketing, new business development, strategic planning, brand standards and e-marketing initiatives.
Prior to joining Hines, she served as national director of public relations for a publicly traded REIT and as national director of marketing and communications for a leading third-party services firm.
Porter is a 23-year commercial real estate veteran.
David Robinson has been promoted to Senior Vice President-Conceptual Construction Group. He joined Hines in 1995 after serving as a consulting engineer on several of the firm’s projects including Figueroa at Wilshire in Los Angeles and One Ninety One Peachtree in Atlanta. Since joining Hines, he has been responsible for the direction and design of the electrical, fire alarm, security and low voltage systems for many of the firm’s domestic and international projects. Additionally, he is responsible for the selection of MEP project consultants, providing direction in preparation of bid documents, reviewing construction documents in various stages of completion, providing direction to consultants to assist in bid documents, the selection of project subcontractors, implementing Hines Standards in the design of new projects, and developing new technologies for improved sustainability.
Robinson has been the electrical lead for the Conceptual Construction Group on the JPMorgan Chase Building at 560 Mission in San Francisco; Fourth & Madison in Seattle; 300 North LaSalle in Chicago; Diagonal Mar in Barcelona; and Eighth Avenue Place in Calgary; to name a few.
Scott Whiddon has been promoted to Vice President-Controller. He joined Hines’ Central Finance and Accounting (CFA) group as International Controller in 2005 and was promoted to Senior Controller in 2007.
As the head of CFA’s international team, he is responsible for managing the firm’s international business liquidity, coordinating with international regions on internal reporting and employee compensation issues, and helping to manage financial risk on Hines’ international projects.
He also oversees the external financial reporting and audit functions for various corporate entities.
Jay Wyper has been promoted to Senior Vice President-Conceptual Construction Group. He joined Hines in 1979 in Houston, and throughout his tenure, has been responsible for various Hines regions in the U.S. and in Europe. In his early years, Wyper served as Project Officer on One State Street in Hartford, Columbia Square in D.C., Three Ravinia Drive and One Ninety One Peachtree in Atlanta, and the spring training facilities for both the Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees. From 1996 to 2002, he served as Managing Director for Hines Spain and was responsible for all Spanish activities including Diagonal Mar and Pórtico. From 2002 to 2010, he served as Managing Director for Hines Europe and worked on various projects in France, Germany, Poland, Italy and the UK. From 2010 to 2012, he served as Managing Director for Hines UK and was responsible for all UK activities including Cannon Place. Since returning to the U.S. and joining the Conceptual Construction Group, he has been responsible for new business-development management activities, and has taken on the coordination role on new master-planned projects and technology initiatives. Most recently, Wyper has been the lead person in the Conceptual Construction Group for several on-going projects including Research Triangle Park, ATCO Group Headquarters and Saudi Aramco projects.
Hines is a privately owned real estate firm involved in real estate investment, development and property management worldwide. The firm’s historical and current portfolio of projects that are underway, completed, acquired and managed for third parties includes 1,283 properties representing more than 516 million square feet of office, residential, mixed-use, industrial, hotel, medical and sports facilities, as well as large, master-planned communities and land developments.
Currently, Hines manages 378 properties totaling 151.9 million square feet, which includes 84.3 million square feet for third parties.
With offices in 111 cities in 18 countries, and controlled assets valued at approximately $25.2 billion, Hines is one of the largest real estate organizations in the world. Visit www.hines.com for more information.