NEW YORK (January 6, 2021) – In a move that will further strengthen Savills position as the premier tenant advisory firm in the Tri-State region, the company today announced the addition of industry veteran Jim Wenk, who will hold the title of vice chairman and also join the firm’s North American board of directors. Wenk, who previously served as a vice chairman at JLL, will be joined at Savills by Kirill Azovtsev, executive managing director, and Allison Buck, assistant director.

“As Savills continues to strengthen its presence in the region and invest in its platform, an important growth lever is to recruit the best and brightest the industry has to offer. Jim and Kirill perfectly represent the type of talent we are targeting. They are professionals who have consistently demonstrated the ability to produce significant revenue, but also two individuals who embody our culture,” said Janet Woods, vice chairman and Northeast Region lead for Savills.

As per Woods, Wenk was recruited to Savills due, in large part, to his capabilities as a leader and will be an active member of the firm’s leadership group. In his 21 years at JLL, he established himself as a key member of the brokerage’s leadership team.

Wenk and Azovtsev have a successful track record of representing tenants with large square footage requirements. They were an integral part of the JLL team responsible for executing over 700,000 square feet of transactions on behalf of Spotify in New York City. Other notable transactions include expanding Snapchat’s presence in New York City from 3,000 square feet to 150,000 square feet; representing Genpact, nationally, in over 500,000 square feet of transactions; and IWG (aka Regus/Spaces) in over 800,000 square feet across several leases. The duo recently represented preeminent private equity firm Lexington Partners in its 48,000-square-foot lease at 399 Park Avenue. Wenk recently represented hyper growth startup Better.com in its 88,000-square-foot lease at 3 World Trade Center, and in leases for new offices in Charlotte, North Carolina and Irvine, California. Wenk and Azovtsev’s client roster also includes VTS, Celonis, OnDeck Capital, HOK Architects, Infor, TelaDoc Health, PRA Consulting and Milrose Consultants. 

“We are eager to join Savills because the firm has put a premium on investing in its talent, but also in technology tools that are focused exclusively on the occupier. We strongly believe that the firm’s collaborative environment and technology resources will enable us to better service our clients and ultimately drive better outcomes for the companies we work with, “said Wenk. “Personally, the opportunity to play a prominent leadership role at a firm I have an immense amount of respect for, was extremely attractive to me.”

At JLL, Wenk has received top-production awards for 15 consecutive years, including the company’s highest recognition for the past six years, the Top Gun award. Wenk was also selected to the prestigious David Rockefeller Fellow program by the Partnership of New York during the 2019-2020 class. In his career, he has closed over $4 billion in real estate transactions. Asovtsev, who joined JLL in 2010, has completed over 150 transactions totaling more than 3 million square feet.

Wenk, Azovtsev and Buck represent the latest professionals to join Savills. Recently, in New York City, the firm announced the hires of Jason Schwartzenberg, Michael Leff and Peter Hennessy. In November, Savills Seattle office announced the addition of commercial tenant advisory experts Eric Lonergan, Brian Kelly, Justin Johnson and Colton Teglovic. This past March, Savills also acquired Macro Consultants, a leading project management firm. Savills has grown significantly in North America over the past two years. During this active period of coast-to-coast expansion, the firm has acquired several top brokerage offices, teams and consultants in Calgary, Dallas, Detroit, Houston, Minneapolis, Nashville, and Washington, D.C. With over 35 offices and more than 800 employees between the US and Canada, Savills provides local and international clients with a cohesive suite of services and solutions, including tenant representation, workplace strategy and occupant experience, workforce and incentives strategy, labor analytics, project management and other areas of commercial real estate.