Sperry Commercial Global Affiliates LLC, an Irvine-based commercial real estate brokerage that started operations this summer, has hired the former mayor of its hometown to beef up its presence in Asia.
The company announced last week that it hired Sukhee Kang as chairman of its new Pacific Rim office, which will be based in the Koreatown district in the center of Los Angeles.
Kang is the first Korean-American elected to serve as mayor of a sizable U.S. city.
Among his new duties will be to attract more brokers to the new Sperry Commercial office.
He’ll also lead an attempt to grow into new markets in Asia. The company said it’s planning to link with real estate affiliates in South Korea, China, Vietnam, the Philippines and other Pacific Rim countries.
Four new affiliates are poised to launch soon in South Korea and China, the company said.
Sperry Commercial kicked off its business, which provides investment sales, leasing, and management services, in August.
The firm was founded by Rand Sperry, who co-founded Irvine brokerage Sperry Van Ness International Corp. in 1987. He’s no longer affiliated with that company, which is now based in Boston.
Sperry Commercial, meanwhile, now has 11 affiliated offices.
Its first affiliation was with Los Angeles-based brokerage BRC Advisors Inc., which had five offices in L.A. that did about $750 million in transactions last year with Sperry Commercial.
BRC Advisors founder James Huang now serves as president of Sperry Commercial, which also has expanded into Atlanta, Dallas, Denver, Las Vegas and Sacramento with new offices.
Sperry Commercial’s headquarters has about 30 employees, according to the company’s website.
Its move to hire Kang adds another line to a resume that includes consecutive two-year terms as mayor of Irvine starting in 2008. The Democrat went on to lose a bid for the U.S. House of Representatives in 2012, and this year fell short in a campaign for a seat in the California State Senate representing the Fullerton area, where he now resides.
In recent years he has worked for former University of California-Irvine Chancellor Michael Drake, serving as “Special Advisor to the Chancellor for South Korea Relations.” He’s also been a chancellor fellow at Chapman University.
Other positions Kang has held in his public career include serving on California Gov. Gray Davis’ California Workforce Investment Board, and on the State Water Quality Control Board.
