Karen Brennan

Karen Brennan has been Chief Financial Officer of JLL since 2020. As CFO, she leads the company’s global finance organization and oversees all aspects of corporate finance, including financial planning, accounting, tax, treasury, and investor relations. She is also responsible for JLL Business Services (JBS), which delivers high-quality scalable services focused on operational excellence and digitization. Working closely with the Global Executive Board, she drives JLL’s financial strategy and shapes its strategic vision and transformation agenda. She is responsible for maintaining the company’s financial strength while focusing on growth and operational excellence across the organization’s global platform. During her more than 25-year tenure with JLL and its operationally independent subsidiary LaSalle, Karen has held numerous leadership positions across investment, asset and portfolio management in key markets worldwide. Prior to her current role, she served as CEO of LaSalle Europe in London, where she led the firm’s $22 billion AUM pan-European private equity real estate investment management business. Since joining LaSalle in 1999, Karen has held progressive leadership roles across multiple regions. She began in acquisitions at the Baltimore office before moving to Chicago in 2001 for asset and portfolio management. From 2008 to 2012, she was based in Asia, serving as Portfolio Manager, ex-Japan, for LaSalle’s Asia Opportunity Funds, where she played a crucial role in restructuring and stabilizing the region’s business following the Global Financial Crisis. Upon returning to the U.S. in 2013, she led LaSalle’s Americas Custom Accounts group, managing over $10bn in assets for the firm’s largest institutional investors. Karen earned a BBA, Summa Cum Laude from Loyola University Maryland and an M.B.A. from The University of Chicago Booth School of Business.