Savills has boosted its Workplace Practice Group with industry experts Marty Festenstein and Surabhi Raman as senior managing directors and Tonya Williams as managing director.
“We are pleased to add three valuable experts to our team during one of the most pivotal times for our clients,” said Rebecca Humphrey, Workplace Practice Group leader for Savills North America. “Each brings their own distinctive industry experience, allowing us to provide in-depth and timely market knowledge for the legal, technology, and energy sectors. We are confident that Marty, Surabhi, and Tonya will continue to design and deliver purposeful workplaces that will meet our clients’ needs as they welcome employees back to the office.”
Festenstein brings over 25 years of award-winning design experience to Savills. He joins the firm from Nelson Worldwide, where he served as principal and chair of the global design firm’s Legal Workplace Practice. His work has been recognized by the Chicago Building Congress, International Interior Design Association, and numerous architecture, design, and legal publications. Festenstein will be based in Chicago and partner with the Savills North America Legal Tenant Practice Group to offer workplace and facilities solutions for major law firms across the country in his new role.
Raman has managed projects and strategic workplace initiatives around the globe and brings more than 20 years of experience to Savills. With a background in architecture and technology, Raman has advised clients across the professional services and technology sectors, including Bank of America, Amazon, United Healthcare, Thomson Reuters, GSK, and Deutsche Bank. Before Savills, Raman served as the projects sub-regional lead for the Google campus at CBRE and led JLL’s workplace consulting practice for Southeast Asia. Raman will be Northern California-based, and she will work closely with the firm’s Technology Practice Group to advise key technology and platform-level clients.
Williams has over a decade of experience in corporate office design and joins Savills from CBRE. Previously, she was the global lead advisor on the firm’s ExxonMobil account, building a foundation for workplace strategy in the energy company’s project management office. Williams has also held lead workplace designer and project management roles within Occidental Petroleum’s global real estate and facilities team. She developed workplace strategies and programming for multiple locations, including the organization’s chemical and oil and gas headquarters. Williams will sit in the Savills Houston office and support the Southwest region and other energy and workplace clients throughout North America.
The additions of Festenstein, Raman, and Williams come as Savills bolsters its workplace strategy business. The Workplace Practice Group has grown over 60% in the past year and recently added three new workplace strategists: Kerianne Bieger, Kat Smith, and Rachael Oh. The group specializes in multiple service lines, including workplace analysis and strategy, wellness and sustainability programming, chance and communications management, design and space planning, and space utilization and optimization.
