John Gates transitions to Executive Chairman role
CHICAGO, Jan. 7, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- JLL, a leading global commercial real estate services firm, today announced key leadership changes as part of a planned transition within its Americas Leasing Advisory business. Michael Colacino has been appointed CEO Americas Leasing Advisory and John Gates will transition to Executive Chairman, Americas Leasing Advisory. The transition is effective January 15.
"These appointments position our Americas leasing business for continued growth and innovation," said Karen Brennan, CEO of JLL's global Leasing Advisory business. "Michael's proven leadership, strategic acumen, and technology-forward approach will drive the evolution of our business, while John's transition to Executive Chairman allows us to leverage his market relationships and industry expertise."
As Executive Chairman, Gates will focus on building relationships with occupier clients, targeted broker recruitment, oversight of Mexico operations and providing strategic advisory across the platform. During his tenure as CEO, Gates strengthened JLL's presence across the Americas, expanded leasing capabilities in key markets and established the firm's industrial and logistics business. He also launched JLL University, one of the firm's most regarded training programs and advanced the Champions of Excellence tradition celebrating employees' outstanding career contributions to the firm and communities.
"I'm incredibly proud of the best-in-class platform we've built over the last decade-plus, which includes an incredible team of leasing professionals across the Americas," said Gates. "This was an opportune time for me to transition to a role where I can dedicate more time to clients and help continue to source top-talent. I know that our business is in good hands with Michael and look forward to helping him achieve JLL's next phase of growth."
Colacino joined JLL in 2023 as President of Tri-State Brokerage, bringing over 30 years of commercial real estate experience starting at Studley, where he led a management buyout and served as President from 2002 until the firm's acquisition by Savills in 2014. At Savills he ran the US operations and served on the Savills Global Executive Board. He later founded proptech investment firm Haiku Partners in 2019, before serving as President and then CEO at SquareFoot. His deep understanding of evolving client expectations and competitive market dynamics, alongside his data management, AI and technology expertise, strongly position him to lead the next phase of strategic growth across our Americas leasing business.
"I'm honored to lead our talented Americas leasing team and build on John's tremendous success," said Colacino. " With JLL's exceptional people and our advanced technology platform and data analytics capabilities, we're focused on insights that drive smarter real estate decisions and outstanding client results."
Gates began his career at The Staubach Company in 1990 and joined JLL through its 2008 acquisition, subsequently holding leadership roles including CEO of Markets for the U.S., Canada, and Latin America.
Gates and Colacino will work together to ensure a seamless transition while continuing to deliver exceptional outcomes for JLL's leasing clients across the Americas.
About JLL
For over 200 years, JLL (NYSE:JLL), a leading global commercial real estate and investment management company, has helped clients buy, build, occupy, manage and invest in a variety of commercial, industrial, hotel, residential and retail properties. A Fortune 500® company with annual revenue of $23.4 billion and operations in over 80 countries around the world, our more than 113,000 employees bring the power of a global platform combined with local expertise. Driven by our purpose to shape the future of real estate for a better world, we help our clients, people and communities SEE A BRIGHTER WAYSM. JLL is the brand name, and a registered trademark, of Jones Lang LaSalle Incorporated. For further information, visit jll.com.
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SOURCE JLL