Arlington, Virginia-based REIT AvalonBay Communities has hired Pamela Thomas for the newly created role of executive vice president of portfolio and asset management, according to a news release shared with Multifamily Dive. 

Previously, Thomas was the managing director and head of U.S. real estate at CPP Investments, a Toronto-based company responsible for investing the funds of the Canada Pension Plan. In that role, she led investments and dispositions across multiple U.S. real estate sectors, and served on the company’s global real estate investment committee. 

Prior to her time at CPP, Thomas was an executive director with JP Morgan Asset Management and worked on East Coast multifamily investments at RREEF/Deutsche Bank. 

Thomas has a total of 30 years of asset management, multifamily investment and real estate experience, according to AvalonBay CEO Benjamin Schall.

“As we continue to optimize our portfolio to deliver superior growth, this is the right time to expand our executive team to provide focused leadership on portfolio and asset management and an additional voice on strategic planning,” Schall said in the news release.

In her new role, announced last month and effective immediately, Thomas operates out of the AvalonBay headquarters, driving its portfolio and asset management organization, setting capital plans and developing portfolio performance priorities. She reports to Schall, and will partner with the rest of the executive team to drive the company’s future growth, the release said.

Thomas is also a voting member of the firm’s management investment committee, which reviews and approves all of the company’s development, acquisition and major improvement proposals.

AvalonBay, ranked No. 5 on the National Multifamily Housing Council’s Top 50 Owners list and No. 16 on the Top 50 Managers list, owns, develops and operates multifamily properties in markets across 12 states and Washington, D.C. 

In the REIT’s April earnings call, Schall noted that AvalonBay’s occupancy rate, combined with low turnover, had positioned the firm to raise rents for the spring leasing season. He was also optimistic that better-than-expected job growth would continue to boost the company’s portfolio, and cited new hiring as a tailwind for the company.

“We also expect our suburban coastal footprint to continue to outperform, given steady and improved demand drivers and the limited amount of new supply delivering in our markets versus the rest of the country,” he said in April.