Robert Thomas was named co-head of real estate securities for the Americas and co-lead portfolio manager at Deutsche Asset Management, spokeswoman Oksana Poltavets said.
He replaced Joseph Fisher, who became chief financial officer at real estate investment trust UDR.
Mr. Thomas will be responsible for the co-portfolio management of U.S. real estate securities strategies and the Americas real estate securities allocation within the global real estate securities strategies. He will work alongside David Zonavetch, who holds the same position.
He will be based in Chicago and report to John Vojticek, head and chief investment officer, liquid real assets.
Deutsche AM's liquid real assets unit had $23 billion in assets under management as of Sept. 30.
Mr. Thomas was previously head of North American property equities and portfolio manager at Henderson Global Investors. Greg Kuhl, a portfolio manager within the global property equities team, will assume responsibility for the U.S. sleeve of the global funds, said Henderson spokesman James Doyle.
Separately, Petra Pflaum was promoted to the new position of chief investment officer for responsible investments at Deutsche Asset Management in Frankfurt, a spokesman said.
Ms. Pflaum manages a dedicated environmental, social and governance team responsible for further integrating ESG capabilities into Deutsche AM's investment processes.
Ms. Pflaum will also continue in her role as Europe, Middle East and Africa head of equities, according to a news release. However, Britta Weidenbach, who has been head of European equities, will now co-head EMEA equities with Ms. Pflaum, the spokesman said.
Deutsche Asset Management had €715 billion ($747 billion) of assets under management as of Sept. 30.
