Whippany-based MetLife Investment Management (MIM) said March 1 it appointed Sara Queen as managing director and head of Real Estate Equity, effective March 15, 2021. Reporting to Robert Merck, senior managing director and global head of MetLife Investment Management’s Real Estate and Agriculture business, Queen will succeed Mark Wilsmann, who is retiring at the end of March after more than 30 years with the company.
“Sara’s passion for commercial real estate, her strong client relationships and her leadership and business development experience make her the perfect choice to lead our Real Estate Equity group into a new era,” said Merck in a prepared statement.
“I thank Mark for his many contributions to the company over the years. He leaves our Real Estate Equity platform well-positioned as he passes the baton to Sara, who throughout her career has proven time and time again that she’s eager to roll up her sleeves, build a winning platform and drive real value for institutional clients. We couldn’t be happier to have her join the team,” Merck continued.
Queen will oversee MetLife Investment Management’s $32.7 billion1 Real Estate Equity portfolio, which comprises core, core-plus, build-to-core, value-add and opportunistic strategies for the firm’s institutional clients and MetLife’s general account.
She joins from Mapletree Investments, a global real estate development, investment and capital management company headquartered in Singapore, where she was head of the company’s North America business. After joining Mapletree Investments in 2018, Queen tripled the firm’s U.S. real estate equity assets under management (AUM) to $10 billion.
Prior to Mapletree Investments, Queen spent 11 years at Brookfield as head of asset management for the company’s U.S. office portfolio, in addition to overseeing strategic planning and management of their expanding closed end accounts business. Before Brookfield, she spent nine years at Clarion Partners in a variety of asset management and portfolio management roles.
