Avison Young has appointed industry veteran Harry Klaff as Principal and President of Clients. In this new role, Klaff will focus on occupier, owner and investor engagement globally, enhancing the firm’s collaborative culture and client service model. He is based in Washington, D.C.
Harry Klaff joind Avison Young from JLL, where he served as a Managing Director, specializing in tenant representation. He has more than 30 years of experience in commercial real estate, structuring complex real estate transactions across several sectors, including technology, government, professional services and finance.
Avison Young said Klaff has completed more than $10 billion in real estate transactions for leading space occupiers.
“We all need to find new ways to realize the full potential of real estate as the world adapts and changes, and our client experience service model leverages real estate for business benefit through our collective intelligence of people and data,” Mark E. Rose, Chair and CEO of Avison Young. “Clients have always been at the heart of what we do and Harry’s decades of experience mentoring fellow colleagues and leading clients through their needs and challenges makes him purpose-fit to run our client engagement platform.”
As President of Clients, Harry Klaff will build on the firm’s collaborative culture, enhancing connectivity across service lines and affinity groups. He will partner closely with global leadership, including the President of Americas Professional Services, Sheila Botting, who joined Avison Young earlier this year, and Mark Croad, who joined Avison Young recently to lead the client and business development strategy for the U.K.
“It was an unbelievable opportunity and an easy decision to join Avison Young – a firm that is powered by people to deliver shared value for clients, which is completely aligned to my interests and skills,” said Klaff. “Avison Young’s collaborative culture means that clients get the full benefit of the firm’s cross-functional expertise, driving value as we use real estate to achieve business goals.”
