John Carfi takes top job at Aqualand
Aqualand Australia has lured high-profile former Mirvac head of residential, John Carfi, to run its Sydney-focused operations.
Cafri has spent the last 18 months in the Middle East where he was the CEO of development at Dubai-based real estate firm Emaar Properties where he delivered multiple large-scale, mixed-use developments.
There was an end value of more than US $120B and annual turnover of more than US $15B.
Prior to his move to Emaar in 2016, Carfi had been Mirvac's CEO of residential development for 15 years.
He began his career in the real estate industry back in the late 1980s at Lendlease.
Carfi will become chief executive of the Chinese-backed Aqualand from July, The Australian reported.
Aqualand managing director Jin Lin told The Australian Carfi's appointment is the next step in Aqualand's long-term strategy.
“We’ve been speaking with John for a number of months because we truly believe he is one of the few in the industry with such a high level of leadership and ingenuity.
"This is a result of a very controlled strategy that has allowed us to meet our milestones to trigger our next growth stage.
“While John will transition into our CEO, I will transition to Group Managing Director," Lin said.
"Already Aqualand has grown a significant portfolio of sites, recycling assets to improve future investment opportunities and we are now on the verge of a new frontier with a significant appetite for large-scale, masterplanned projects.
"John has delivered numerous masterplanned communities throughout Australia and internationally, and I believe with him at the helm, Aqualand is well-positioned to increase its market dominance.”
Carfi has held senior positions across industry organisations including Australian Chairman of the global property association Urban Land Institute (ULI), Member of The Urban Taskforce Executive Committee, Fellow of the Australian Property Institute and Director of the Australian Residential Development Council.
He has a Bachelor of Applied Science (Building) degree from the University of Technology Sydney, along with business related qualifications from INSEAD and Chicago University.