The Urban Land Institute (ULI) announces that Darrell Stanaford, the former Managing Director of CBRE Russia, has been elected to succeed Sergey Riabokobylko as Chairman of ULI Russia. Darrell will assume the voluntary role for a two year period, as Sergey steps down having completed his term.

ULI is a global research and education institute dedicated to responsible land use and sustainable community building. Currently, ULI has nearly 30,000 members worldwide and more than 2,000 in 16 countries across Europe.

The outgoing Chairman, Mr.  Riabokobylko, took on the ULI Russia Chairman position in March 2010, as part of an initiative of local industry leaders to develop ULI Russia. Highlighting Sergey’s term was the Moscow Urban Forum, held in December 2011, in which ULI brought close to 25 international experts to a two day event hosted by the Moscow City Government.

According to Lee Timmins, Senior Vice President of Hines, “Under Sergey’s leadership ULI in Russia has emerged as a standard-bearer of international best practice, involving most senior industry leaders. We are grateful to Sergey for his work in transforming ULI here into the educational and idea-sharing body that we recognize and value.”

An active member of the Moscow real estate community since 1995, Mr. Stanaford, 45, worked as Managing Director of CBRE Russia between 2005 and 2011. CBRE employs over 500 people in Russia and is active throughout the country. Prior to taking over general management functions, Stanaford was an industrial and office broker, then Director of property management.  An American, Darrell works fluently in Russian.

Sergey Riabokobylko, the outgoing Chairman of ULI Russia, commented, “Russia has a vibrant and growing real estate industry where ULI can make a tremendous difference by exposing local stakeholders to international best practice. I look forward to continuing as an active member of our local Executive Committee. It has been a privilege to serve ULI Russia, sharing ideas and real experiences with industry leaders in Russia and other European countries. I have enjoyed the last two years and I am delighted that Darrell will succeed me as our new Chairman. Darrell is well respected within the real estate community and by ULI members and he has the energy, understanding and communicative skills needed to lead ULI’s continued development in Russia.”

Darrell Stanaford, the new Chairman of ULI Russia, said, “It is my great pleasure to succeed Sergey, who has achieved so much in developing ULI Russia. On behalf of the ULI Russia Executive Committee I thank Sergey for his fantastic work and we hope to draw on his experience and continued support for the future. We would also like to thank Nicholas Schiloff, Associate of Hines, for his energetic work heading our Young Leaders Group in Russia. Our Young Leaders are one of our greatest assets and Nicholas’ tireless work has been instrumental in creating the quality events for which ULI has been known in our market. We are pleased that he will remain active as Nikola Obajdin, Associate Director of Knight Frank, takes over as the new chair of the ULI Russia Young Leaders Group.

“The Russian real estate industry is at a very exciting stage of its development. For the first time in our history the government is engaging the international community in its search for ideas as it seeks to transform Moscow into a competitive global city. As the Russian economy continues to grow, Russian cities are rapidly modernizing. All stakeholders can benefit greatly from the research and education that ULI can provide,” said Darrell.