Officers and Management

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Kevan Gorrie
President and Chief Executive Officer

Mr. Gorrie joined Granite REIT as President and Chief Executive Officer on August 1, 2018. With over 20 years of corporate real estate experience in Canada, the United States and Germany, Mr. Gorrie most recently served as the President and Chief Executive Officer of Pure Industrial Real Estate Trust (TSX: AAR.UN) where he successfully grew and led the business until its strategic sale to Blackstone Property Partners and Ivanhoé Cambridge for approximately $3.8 billion, in May, 2018.

Prior to joining PIRET, Mr. Gorrie led the industrial business for Oxford Properties Group, the real estate investment arm of a major Canadian pension fund, where he built a platform comprising 13 million square feet of income producing properties and development projects across major Canadian industrial markets, encompassing acquisition, asset management, leasing, operations and development.

Mr. Gorrie is an honours graduate of the civil engineering program at the University of Toronto and is a member of the Institute of Corporate Directors (ICD.D). Mr. Gorrie is a licensed Professional Engineer in the Province of Ontario.

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Teresa Neto
Chief Financial Officer

Ms. Neto joined Granite REIT as Chief Financial Officer on July 8, 2019 and is responsible for the REIT’s financial planning, accounting & reporting, tax, treasury and corporate finance activities.

Ms. Neto has over thirty years of varied business experience, including thirteen years as a CFO for publicly-traded real estate investment trusts in Canada, most recently with Pure Industrial Real Estate Trust and prior to that at Northwest Healthcare Properties REIT.

Ms. Neto holds a Chartered Professional Accountant, C.A. designation and has a B.A. from Laurentian University. Ms. Neto is a member of the Institute of Corporate Directors and holds the ICD.D designation.

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Lorne Kumer
Executive Vice President, Head of Global Real Estate

Mr. Kumer oversees all aspects of Granite property operations related to Granite’s global real estate platform including asset management, acquisitions, dispositions, and development. He is also responsible for the global Magna International relationship.

Mr. Kumer has over 25 years of experience in the real estate industry working for both public and private development companies. His experience includes property development, leasing, land planning and construction. For over 15 years, Mr. Kumer has worked for Granite and Magna in various roles including the management of Granite’s North American income‑producing properties portfolio. Prior to joining Granite, Mr. Kumer held senior positions in the real estate industry including Vice President at C. Hunter Real Estate Corporation in Toronto and Vice President with Peregrine Hunter Properties Ltd.

Mr. Kumer holds a Bachelor of Arts (Honours), business administration, from the Richard Ivey School of Business at the University of Western Ontario.

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Michael A. Ramparas
Executive Vice President, Global Real Estate and Head of Investments

Mr. Ramparas joined Granite in February 2012 and as Executive Vice President, Global Real Estate and Head of Investments, he is responsible for managing Granite’s portfolio performance and overseeing investments globally.

Prior to joining Granite, Mr. Ramparas was Vice President of Hexagon Capital Partners, a real estate advisory firm focused on executing a strategic plan for assets owned by a global multi-billion dollar corporation. Previously, he served as a Senior Analyst at Fortress Investment Group LLC, a New York-based private equity and hedge fund company. Mr. Ramparas has over 18 years of relevant work experience with focus on real estate and equity investments, corporate strategy, underwriting, operations and valuations.

Mr. Ramparas graduated from the University of Western Ontario with a Bachelor of Arts in Economics.

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Lawrence Clarfield
Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary

Mr. Clarfield oversees all of Granite’s legal matters including investments, corporate governance and regulatory compliance.

Previously, Mr. Clarfield was in private practice and prior to joining Granite in 2012 was legal counsel at North American Development Group. Mr. Clarfield has more than 15 years of diversified in-house experience advising on leasing, development, financings, operations and a broad range of cross-border transactions and corporate matters.

Mr. Clarfield is admitted to the Bar in Ontario and holds a Bachelor of Laws degree from Osgoode Hall and a Bachelor of Arts (Hons.) from York University.

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Witsard Schaper
Senior Vice President, Head of Europe

Mr. Schaper serves as Granite’s Senior Vice President, Head of Europe. Mr. Schaper is based out of our Amsterdam office and has almost 20 years of extensive real estate investment experience in international private and public real estate transactions across Europe. Prior to joining Granite, Mr. Schaper was a Director at CPPIB in London where he was responsible for the investment programme in Continental Europe and served as a member of the global investment committee.  Previously, Mr. Schaper was a Senior Vice President – Europe at Franklin Templeton where his primary responsibility was devising and implementing the European investment strategy. Earlier in his career, Mr. Schaper held various real estate positions at Forum Partners, Credit Suisse and Morgan Stanley.

Mr Schaper is a Dutch national and holds a Masters in Law degree (LLM) from Utrecht University, The Netherlands.

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Jon Sorg
Senior Vice President, Head of U.S.

Mr. Sorg serves as Granite’s Senior Vice President, Head of U.S. .  Based out of Dallas, Mr. Sorg has 19 years of investment, operations, underwriting and valuations experience in a variety of markets across the central US.  

Prior to joining Granite, Mr. Sorg spent 12 years at Prologis, where most recently he served as Senior Vice President, Capital Deployment.  In that role, he was responsible for investment activities across various markets in the central US.  Previously, Mr. Sorg held various leadership and execution roles with Prologis in Dallas, Indianapolis and Chicago.  Prior to Prologis, Mr. Sorg held various leasing, underwriting and valuations roles at Duke Realty. 

Mr. Sorg holds a Bachelor of Science in Finance from the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University.

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Kristy Boys
Vice President, Treasury

Ms. Boys oversees all of Granite’s treasury matters including capital raising, intercompany financing, foreign exchange & risk management, global cash repatriation and cash management.

Ms. Boys joined Granite in 2012, initially to establish a global cash repatriation strategy in support of the new monthly distribution mandate on conversion to a REIT.  Prior to Granite, Ms. Boys was involved in turnarounds and restructurings with a boutique financial advisory firm where she was responsible for managing daily cash flows, securing financing and strategic planning and execution.

Ms. Boys holds a Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA) designation and graduated from the University of Waterloo with an Honours Bachelor of Mathematics with a minor in Business.

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Alison Clements
Vice President, Real Estate

Ms. Clements serves as Vice President, Real Estate and is responsible for the execution and oversight of Granite’s North American real estate transactions and supports Granite’s leasing and development initiatives.

Ms. Clements has more than 15 years experience in commercial real estate and since joining Granite in 2012, has contributed to diverse aspects of Granite’s global business including corporate initiatives and asset management activities. Prior to joining Granite, Ms. Clements was a member of the real estate group of one of Canada’s leading law firms.

Ms. Clements holds a bachelor of arts (with honours) from McMaster University.

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Paul Galos
Vice President, Finance Europe

Mr. Galos has been with Granite since 2004 and has more than 20 years of experience in the corporate finance industry.  Mr. Galos is responsible for the overall management of accounting, finance and tax services in Europe, as well as maintaining local and corporate compliance for Granite’s European entities.  Over his tenure, Mr. Galos was involved in all restructuring phases of Granite including its conversion to a REIT.

Mr. Galos graduated from the University of Applied Sciences of Vienna with a masters degree in European Economy and Business Management and an MBA from the Joseph Schumpeter Institute.

Bernhard Hamet

Bernhard Hamet
Vice President Legal, Europe

Mr. Hamet joined Granite in April 2015 and serves as Vice President, Legal (Europe) where he is responsible for all legal matters relating to Granite’s European entities and European property portfolio, including acquisitions and dispositions.
Prior to joining Granite in-house, Mr. Hamet worked in private practice for an Austrian law firm in which he acted as external European counsel for Granite in a consulting capacity. Mr. Hamet has more than 10 years of diversified experience advising on leasing, development, financings, operations and a broad range of cross-border transactions.

Mr. Hamet passed his bar exam in 2015 with honors, holds a Master’s Degree in law from the Law School of Vienna and earned a Master’s Degree in Economics from the University of Applied Sciences Vienna.

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Stephanie Karamarkovic
Vice President, Accounting and Financial Reporting

Ms. Karamarkovic oversees all of Granite’s accounting and financial reporting activities.

Ms. Karamarkovic joined Granite in October 2020. Prior to joining Granite, Ms. Karamarkovic spent 8 years at NorthWest Healthcare Properties REIT, most recently as Vice President, Accounting and Corporate Controller. At Northwest, Ms. Karamarkovic was responsible for external and internal financial reporting and gained extensive experience with multi-currency consolidations, acquisitions, M&A transactions and the implementation of a global ERP (Yardi) system. Prior to NorthWest, Ms.Karamarkovic was a Manager in Ernst & Young’s audit practice.

Ms. Karamarkovic holds a Chartered Professional Accountant, C.A. designation and has a B. Comm. from Queen’s University.

Mario-Pecile

Mario Pecile
Vice President, Construction, North America

Mr. Pecile has been with Granite since 1997 and has more than 30 years of experience in the construction industry. Mr. Pecile is responsible for overseeing the construction, development and overall management of properties located in Southern Ontario and the United States.

Prior to joining Granite, Mr. Pecile was a Field Engineer with Eastern Construction Company Ltd. for over nine years and worked on a variety of projects that included the construction of office high-rises, shopping malls as well as institutional facilities.

Mr. Pecile is a Professional Engineer (Civil) and holds a Bachelor of Applied Science from the University of Toronto.

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Tim Pickering
Vice President of Taxation

Mr. Pickering serves as Granite’s Vice President of Taxation. Mr. Pickering is responsible for overseeing Granite’s taxation matters. With over 17 years of corporate and international tax experience, which includes over 14 years with Deloitte Canada and Deloitte Beijing, Mr. Pickering has worked with Canadian multinational public companies both in the reorganization and tax planning aspects, as well as accounting for income taxes under both IFRS and US GAAP.

Mr. Pickering is a qualified Chartered Public Accountant and graduated from McMaster University with an Honours B. Commerce and a minor in mathematics.

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Wolfgang Sorger
Vice President, Construction, Europe

Wolfgang Sorger serves as Vice President, Construction for all European Granite entities and is responsible for construction, acquisition, development, leasing and management of Granite’s industrial real estate portfolio in Europe. Mr. Sorger joined MID (now Granite) in 2001. For more than 10 years Wolfgang has been responsible for all European Granite construction projects and has worked on almost all Magna construction projects in Europe as well and has a broad experience in the construction and real estate industry. He holds a graduate engineer degree in Architecture from the University of Technology in Graz, Austria and graduated before from the Technical College for constructional engineering in Graz, Austria.

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Keith Stephen
Vice President, Sustainability & Environment

Mr. Stephen is responsible for managing Granite’s sustainability program throughout Granite’s property portfolio; and, with input from valued colleagues, coordinating Granite’s Environmental, Social & Governance (ESG) reporting and relevant disclosures. Mr. Stephen is also responsible for maintaining Granite’s environmental management program, including existing assets and planned acquisitions.

Prior to joining Granite in 2014, Mr. Stephen was a Senior Professional at a forensic engineering firm, and previously worked for a multi-disciplinary engineering firm (now known as WSP) as a project manager and project engineer. During Mr. Stephen’s 11-year tenure in the environmental consulting industry, his experience focused on the assessment and remediation of contaminated sites.

Mr. Stephen is a licensed Professional Engineer in the Province of Ontario and holds a Bachelor of Applied Science (Environmental Engineering – Civil Specialization) from the University of Waterloo, in addition to a Master of Engineering degree from the University of Toronto.

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Frank Tozzi
Vice President, Construction, North America

Frank Tozzi serves as our Vice President, Construction, North America and has more than 30 years of extensive hands-on experience in the design, construction and supervision of industrial and residential construction projects. Mr. Tozzi liaises with clients, consultants and municipalities to ensure that all projects are completed with the highest level of quality, within timelines and on budget. Prior to joining MID (now Granite), Mr. Tozzi held senior positions in the private sector on residential and industrial projects.

Mr. Tozzi holds a Civil Engineering Technology Diploma from Ryerson Polytechnical Institute.