Case Study: Executive Recruiting for a Senior Vice President of Residential Product Innovation

The client has partnered with a leading global technology company to develop four districts in Silicon Valley that will include 15,000 much-needed residential units over the next 15 years. In an effort to make these districts highly innovative in terms of technology, design, and operational models, the client wanted to hire a senior team member to lead product innovation across the residential developments within the four districts. The person would be responsible for developing the product programs at each site to ensure a diverse mix of product types, prices, and target demographics. The Director would also ensure that the innovative elements are feasible given budgets and project goals.

The client was looking for someone who understood development, operations, and/or asset management, but could also think bigger from an innovation standpoint and had his or her finger on the pulse of the best-in-class projects around the globe. Our challenge rested in the fact that there are no true comparable positions in the market. We needed to find someone who had this balance of skillsets and innovation mindset to make both the client and the technology partner feel confident that these highly-visible districts could become successful projects and worldwide case studies. After talking with candidates on the leading edge of real estate, we ultimately placed a person with experience in institutional investing, asset management, development, and operations, working most recently for an international co-living company.

This search was completed by the RCLCO team while at another employer.