Cushman & Wakefield’s Board of Directors appointed Michelle MacKay, currently the company’s president and chief operating officer, as Cushman & Wakefield’s chief executive officer of as of July 1.

The board of directors also accepted John Forrester’s intent to retire from his position as chief executive officer and member of the board of directors effective June 30, following 35 years of service to the company. Forrester will remain employed as a strategic advisor until December 31.

MacKay was also elected to serve on the board of director .Brett Whitewill remains as executive chairman of the board.

Andrew McDonald, currently president of Cushman & Wakefield, was appointed by the board to an expanded role of global president and chief operating officer, overseeing all the firm’s service lines and regions.

MacKay joined Cushman & Wakefield as a member of its board of directors in 2018. Based on the firm’s strategic goals and her related expertise, she was appointed to the position of COO in 2020 and promoted to President and COO on January 1, 2022, with direct operational and management oversight of many of the firm’s service lines and regions, including the EMEA region, Global Occupier Services and C&W Services.

A commercial real estate executive with more than 30 years of experience at a variety of public and privately held companies, MacKay has served on three public company boards, including Cushman & Wakefield’s from 2018 to 2020. Previously, she served as Executive Vice President, Investments and Head of Capital Markets at iStar, Inc., a real estate investment trust company that has since merged with Safehold Inc.

MacKay also has significant capital allocation and financial institution expertise, having served in leadership roles at UBS (previously Paine Webber), JPMorgan Chase and The Hartford Insurance Company’s investment arm HIMCO.