Here is who now leads the global commercial real estate society, how its presidency is lined up through 2028, and why a Vancouver regional director matters for Canadian industrial and office markets.
The Society of Industrial and Office Realtors (SIOR) has seated its 2026–2027 SIOR board of directors, naming Minneapolis broker Aaron Barnard as global president and appointing Vancouver’s Patrick Phillips as the regional director representing Canada. The new leadership was inducted at the association’s annual Fall Event in New York City, as the organization marks its 85th year.
For Canadian readers, the headline is the Canada seat. Phillips is one of six regional directors starting two-year terms, giving the country’s industrial and office brokerage community a direct voice at the table of a professional body that reports more than 4,100 members in 52 countries.
Patrick Phillips Takes the Canada Seat Among Six New Regional Directors
SIOR organizes part of its governance around geographic regions, and each region sends a director to the board. This year’s intake of six regional directors, all on two-year terms, spans North America and Europe:
- Canada: Patrick Phillips of Vancouver
- Europe: Jeroen van der Meer of Rotterdam
- Great Lakes: Ryan Moen of Chicago
- Northeast: Bryan Atherton of Shelton, Connecticut
- South: Deborah McGill Smith of Birmingham, Alabama
- West: Stephen Kapp of San Francisco
The announcement does not specify Phillips’s firm, specialty or prior roles within the association. What it does confirm is that Canada is treated as a distinct region on the board, rather than being folded into a U.S. territory.
That matters because Canadian commercial real estate operates under its own lending environment, provincial regulation and trade exposure. A dedicated director gives Canadian members a channel for raising market-specific concerns in a body whose leadership is otherwise heavily U.S.-based.
Aaron Barnard’s Three Decades in Commercial Real Estate
Barnard is a senior director at Cushman & Wakefield in Minneapolis and brings 31 years of commercial real estate experience to the presidency. He has held the SIOR office specialist designation since 2009.
As global president, he will lead an international membership made up of brokers and advisers working in industrial and office property. The association has not published a list of priorities for his term.
SIOR chief executive David Lockwood welcomed the incoming group, saying their expertise and grasp of what a global membership needs “will be instrumental” as the association works to reinforce its standing as the leading professional community for industrial and office real estate.
A Presidential Line Already Mapped Out to Fall 2028
One feature of SIOR’s structure is that its future presidents are named years in advance. Officers move through a set sequence, which gives the organization a predictable leadership pipeline.
- Immediate past president: Saadia Sheikh, president and CEO of Powersense in New York, stays on the board. She has more than 16 years in commercial real estate and is entering her fourth year as a director.
- President-elect: Daniel Smolensky, an industrial specialist with TMG Real Estate Advisors in Chicago, is set to take over the presidency in fall 2027.
- Vice president: Scott Savacool, an office specialist with Colliers in St. Louis, is expected to become president-elect after his one-year term and to assume the presidency in fall 2028.
- Global treasurer: Bruce Hecht, executive vice president and managing partner at Swearingen Realty Group in Dallas, begins a two-year term. He has been a member since 1999.
The sequence alternates between office and industrial specialists, with Barnard (office) followed by Smolensky (industrial) and then Savacool (office). The association has not said whether that pattern is deliberate policy.
Who Sits on the SIOR Board of Directors for 2026–2027
Beyond the officers and regional directors, the board includes members-at-large, council leaders and representatives for specific constituencies. Several of them are continuing multi-year terms, so the board blends new and returning members.
| Role | Name | Location / Note |
|---|---|---|
| Global President | Aaron Barnard | Minneapolis; Cushman & Wakefield |
| Immediate Past President | Saadia Sheikh | New York; Powersense |
| President-Elect | Daniel Smolensky | Chicago; TMG Real Estate Advisors |
| Vice President | Scott Savacool | St. Louis; Colliers |
| Global Treasurer | Bruce Hecht | Dallas; Swearingen Realty Group |
| New Members-at-Large (two-year terms) | Adam Collins; Nancy Morse; Landon Williams | Washington, D.C.; San Jose, California; Memphis, Tennessee |
| Continuing Members-at-Large (second year) | Rob Renaud; Damian Rivera; Diana Whisenant | Not specified |
| Speaker, Chapter Leadership Council | James “Tripp” Guin | Second year |
| Speaker-Elect | Grant Pruitt | Continuing |
| Regional Director, Canada | Patrick Phillips | Vancouver |
| Continuing Regional Directors (second year) | Matthew Severns; Wills Elliman; Devin Ogden; Campbell Lewis; Andrew Creixell | Not specified |
| International Representative | James Mulhall | Dublin; two-year term |
| Past-Presidents Representative | Allen Gump | Dallas |
| Young Professionals Representative | Caitlin Mazaheri | Oklahoma City; second year |
Among the new members-at-large, Collins and Morse are office specialists, while Williams holds both industrial and office designations. Mulhall, the incoming international representative, is also a dual industrial and office specialist.
Staggered Two-Year Terms Keep Experience on the Board
Most board seats run for two years, and terms are staggered so that only part of the board turns over each fall. This year, three new members-at-large join three who are entering their second year, and six new regional directors sit alongside five who are continuing.
Staggered terms are a common governance tool among boards of all kinds, from professional associations to public companies. Similar thinking about experience and continuity shows up in corporate appointments, such as the Reworld board of directors adding Kodiak Gas Services founder Mickey McKee, where a director’s operating background is presented as part of the case for the appointment.
For SIOR, the approach means a newly arrived regional director such as Phillips will serve alongside colleagues who already have a year of board experience.
Why an 85-Year-Old Brokerage Society Matters to Canadian Property Markets
Founded in 1941 and based in Washington, D.C., SIOR says it represents industrial and office commercial real estate professionals in more than 750 cities across 52 countries. Its designations are used by brokers to signal specialization in industrial or office property, or in both.
General market context: Industrial and office property have followed different paths in Canada in recent years. Warehousing, logistics and manufacturing space has drawn steady interest from investors and occupiers, while many office owners have had to adapt to hybrid work and shifting tenant expectations. Brokers who specialize in these asset classes advise companies on where to lease, buy or build.
That advisory role connects directly to the kind of investment Canadian readers follow in the business news. Projects such as the Hitachi Energy plant in London, Ontario, set to make Canada’s first transformer pressboard depend on finding and securing suitable industrial sites, which is the specialty of many members of associations like SIOR.
A Canadian regional director cannot steer national markets, but the seat ensures that Canadian practitioners have representation as the association sets programming, standards and priorities for its global membership.
A Board Shaped Largely by U.S. Markets, With Canada and Europe at the Table
Most named leaders on the new board are based in U.S. cities, including Minneapolis, Chicago, St. Louis, Dallas, New York and San Francisco. International representation comes through Phillips in Vancouver, van der Meer in Rotterdam and Mulhall in Dublin.
Board composition is drawing more attention across sectors, as organizations weigh how well their leadership reflects the markets they serve. That theme appears in other recent appointments as well, including Enoch Kariuki joining the Epicrispr Biotechnologies board, where expertise relevant to the company’s next stage was central to the announcement.
For SIOR, the clearest dated milestones are already set: Barnard leads through the 2026–2027 term, Smolensky is slated to take the presidency in fall 2027, and Savacool is in line for fall 2028. How the Canada seat shapes the association’s agenda during that period will become clearer as Phillips settles into his two-year term.
