LaSalle Investment Management, the Chicago-based real estate investment manager, has appointed ex-HSBC managing director, Jason Kern, as its new chief executive, Americas, effective from 1 July.

Kern, who will report to Jeff Jacobson, global CEO, will succeed Peter Schaff, who will step down as LaSalle's North American CEO at the end of this year.

Prior to HSBC, where Kern was managing director and head of Asia-Pacific real estate and the lodging advisory group, Kern spent seventeen years at JP Morgan. He held a number of senior roles within the real estate investment banking team, and was based in JP Morgan offices in the US, UK, Continental Europe and Hong Kong. 

Kern will join the global management committee and the North American private equity investment committee at LaSalle.