Prologis Inc., the world’s largest owner of warehouses, has recently announced the retirement of its currently serving chief legal officer and general counsel, Edward Nekritz. With a career nearly spanning three decades with the company, Nekritz will transition to a senior advisory role as of January 1, 2025, according to a securities filing and an official press release by the San Francisco-based company.
Deborah Briones, a managing director and deputy general counsel at Prologis, has been announced as Nekritz’s successor. Briones has been part of Prologis since 2004 and was promoted to deputy general counsel in 2022.
According to a March proxy statement, Nekritz’s received a total compensation of nearly $13.6 million last year, making him one of the highest-paid law department leaders among publicly traded US companies. He earned approximately $57.3 million in total additional compensation between 2018 and 2022, Prologis’ securities filings have revealed.
During his tenure, Nekritz steered Prologis through numerous mergers and acquisitions. One of the significant deals includes its$26 billion acquisition of Duke Realty Corp. in 2022, on which Prologis was advised by Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz. Further, Prologis acquired a portfolio of warehouses and industrial properties from the Blackstone Group for $3.1 billion last year.
Briones, who’ll also be taking over Nekritz’s position as corporate secretary for Prologis, will be stepping into her new role directly dealing with the acquisition and management of warehouse assets on a global scale. The valuation of warehouse and industrial real estate, driven by the high demand for last-mile delivery capabilities due to e-commerce growth, has immensely increased over the past decade.
In other related transitions, Michael Blair, who was part of the Mayer Brown team that advised Prologis on its 2011 merger with AMB Property Corp, retired earlier this month from his position as the company’s deputy general counsel for corporate matters.