Harrison Street hired Alexis Gisselbrecht as managing director, portfolio management as the Chicago-based firm expands its European team and strategy.
Gisselbrecht is based in London and is slated to lead the portfolio management function in Europe and will oversee the performance of the $55 billion Harrison Street’s European investment vehicles. The move follows the opening of Harrison Street’s Luxembourg office at the beginning of the year.
Previously, Gisselbrecht was a senior fund manager of real assets at AXA Investment Managers, where he was responsible for the firm’s pan-European value-add funds. He has held similar roles at investment firm Patrizia and within BlackRock’s real asset group.
“We’re thrilled to welcome Alexis to the team,” said Joey Lansing, global head of portfolio management and strategy at Harrison Street. “His impressive background in value-add investing will be invaluable as we look to continue building and optimizing portfolios across our demographic-driven alternative property sectors.”
Harrison Street launched its European platform in 2015, and since then has built a team of nearly 50 executives dedicated to the platform located across the firm’s four European offices in the U.K., Spain, Germany and Luxembourg.
William (Liam) Fagan recently joined the firm as managing director and head of the new Luxembourg office. He was at HSBC’s Luxembourg investment company and will be responsible for building out the firm’s presence and deepening relationships with key external partners and service providers. Fagan will work alongside Viviana Raymond, who had been director in tax at Ernst & Young, where she focused on all tax related queries both at fund and portfolio level. At Harrison Street, she will support the development and operations of the recently opened office.
“We are excited about our newest appointments as we continue to expand our presence in Europe,” said Rob Mathias, head of international business at Harrison Street. “Alexis, Liam and Viviana collectively bring a breadth of expertise critical to our business strategy, and we look forward to benefiting from their vast portfolio management, tax and regulatory experience as we continue to invest high-quality, differentiated assets across attractive markets and sectors.”
