People on the Move: Maxime Foucaud is the new managing director with CBRE Ottawa

October 8, 2024

Maxime Foucaud is CBRE Ottawa’s new managing director, the company announced Sept. 27. The former managing director of CBRE’s Ottawa office, Louis Karam, departed the role to take on the managing director position at CBRE’s Quebec office and asked Foucaud if he’d be interested in the Ottawa job. Foucaud had previously worked as vice-president for […]

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Maxime Foucaud is CBRE Ottawa’s new managing director, the company announced Sept. 27. The former managing director of CBRE’s Ottawa office, Louis Karam, departed the role to take on the managing director position at CBRE’s Quebec office and asked Foucaud if he’d be interested in the Ottawa job. Foucaud had previously worked as vice-president for CBRE’s national investment team in Montreal. “To be in management and play a different role – that ticked a lot of boxes for me for what I wanted to do next,” Foucaud said in a press release. Karam said that Foucaud’s success as a broker and his history with Ottawa makes him “the right person for the job.” An Ottawa native, Foucaud moved to Montreal to pursue a bachelor of commerce degree at Concordia University at age 17. He began his career in commercial real estate in 2012 with Cushman & Wakefield as a broker. He joined CBRE in 2019, when his five-person capital markets team at Jones Lang LaSalle in Montreal, led by Scott Speirs, left to join CBRE Group. During his time with the capital markets team, Foucaud brokered some notable files, including the sale of Molson Brewery’s site in 2018, the Montreal World Trade Centre in 2019, and Tour KPMG in 2021. “As I transition into the role of managing director for the Ottawa office, I’m excited about the opportunity to build upon Louis’s success, and am eager to work with the talented team in Ottawa,” Foucaud said. Foucaud visited the CBRE Ottawa office over the summer and said he found himself inspired by the energy, camaraderie and enthusiasm he encountered. “You get that feeling when you talk to the people here, that feeling of youth and drive and focus,” he said. “It’s a young office, with the top producers in their 40s, and the people here are motivated.” CBRE Ottawa is also more collaborative than many of the siloed shops he’d worked at in the past, he noted. “The mindset in Ottawa feels unique – both welcoming and tight-knit. There is a strong worth ethic and collaborative drive to meet our clients’ needs.” As he returns to CBRE, Foucaud plans to match the energy and drive he admires in his new colleagues at the Ottawa office. In his time away from the office, Foucaud and his wife Angela grow their own food and raise livestock on the farm in Wakefield that they purchased during the pandemic.

Also on the move in Ottawa

Dentons appointed Chase Irwin as office managing partner in Ottawa effective Oct. 1. Irwin has been with Dentons for close to nine years. A partner in the Corporate, Securities and Venture Technology and Emerging Growth Companies (VTEGC) practice groups, Irwin is a leading lawyer in Canada for startups and emerging companies and has been instrumental in the successful launch and growth of many emerging technology companies across Canada, while also working extensively with many technology accelerators, venture capital firms, and other institutional and angel investors. His contributions to the VTEGC group, including his role as co-leader of the Dentons Canada Startup Program, have solidified Dentons’ position as a leading adviser in the Canadian tech ecosystem. "It is a great honour to take on the role of Ottawa managing partner,” said Irwin. “Our office plays an important and strategic part of the firm’s national strength and global reach.” Before Dentons, Irwin worked as a lawyer with McMillan LLP in business law and capital markets. He remains a director and corporate secretary with the Community Veterinary Outreach, a position he has held since 2014. The CVO is a registered charity that aims to improve the health of homeless individuals and their pets through a “one health” model of care. Irwin was an OBJ-Ottawa Board of Trade Forty Under 40 recipient in 2020.

Hats off!

Ottawa’s Blackbird Strategies is celebrating its five-year anniversary at the end of October. CEO Lisa Kirbie founded the company in 2019 with a desire to change how government relations and public relations were done. Blackbird Strategies offers clients services in strategic communications, litigation support, and organizing and managing events such as panel discussions and roundtable engagements. Blackbird Strategies works closely with Indigenous communities and agencies to advocate for change by creating reconciliation-based policies, programs and campaigns. Some of its clients include the Chiefs of Ontario, Indigenous Heritage Circle, and Muskeg Lake Cree Nation. The Ottawa International Airport Authority has become an Aira Access Partner to facilitate navigation of the airport by blind or partially sighted people. Users of the Aira app will be able to access an on-demand visual interpreter who will provide navigation assistance, from checking in to shopping at the airport’s businesses and boarding at the gate. The airport authority committed to exploring this service as part of its 2023-26 accessibility plan. YOW joins a growing group of Canadian airports already offering this tool, including Calgary, Edmonton, Toronto, Vancouver and Winnipeg. “Having the ability to navigate independently at Ottawa International Airport with Aira as my guide is truly transformative,” said Everette Bacon, Aira's chief of blindness initiatives. “It brings a sense of freedom and empowerment, not just for me but for countless blind travellers.”