Equity International boosts back-office team

Chicago-based Equity International has named Diane Morefield as chief financial officer and Allison Davis as vice president of communications.

Morefield will oversee financial reporting, accounting, finance and investor relations for the firm. She will also serve as the liaison for financial reporting between Equity International and its portfolio investment companies.

Formerly senior vice president for the Chicago/Midwest region with Equity Office Properties Trust, Morefield was responsible for the business strategy, financial performance, operations, management and leasing for a portfolio of nearly 20 million square feet. Prior to that, she served as senior vice president of investor relations and public relations. Before joining Equity Office in 1997, Morefield worked with Deloitte and also held various positions with Barclays Bank, overseeing commercial real estate capital markets activity in the Midwest region.

Morefield has a bachelor’s in accounting from the University of Illinois and a master’s degree in business administration in finance from the University of Chicago. She is a certified public accountant.

Davis, who joined Equity International after seven years with Equity Office as vice president of corporate communications, will be responsible for Equity International’s communications and will also provide communications counsel to the firm’s portfolio investment companies.

Prior to Equity Office, Davis was a manager at consulting firm Accenture, where she oversaw global marketing and communications for the firm’s finance and performance management service line and also directed internal communications for the global strategy practice. Davis has a bachelor’s degree in political science from Duke University and a master of science in integrated marketing communications from Northwestern University.

Equity International, co-founded in 1999 by Sam Zell and chief executive Gary Garrabrant, closed its third private equity real estate vehicle, EI Fund III, early this year on $300 million (€204 million).