Plenary adds to North American team

Plenary Group, a Melbourne-based infrastructure firm specialising in public-private partnerships, has expanded its North American team with several high-level hires in its Los Angeles, Vancouver and Tampa Bay offices.

Sia Kusha, a senior vice president at AECOM, will join Plenary’s Tampa Bay office next month, while Nigel Kirkwood, a former Citigroup director in the UK, will join the firm’s Vancouver office. Kusha will take over as group head in charge of business development and partnering activities in North America, while Kirkwood will serve as chief operating officer.

“We are anticipating a busy 2018 and these additions provide further foundation for our continued success and growth in both the US and Canadian markets,” Plenary chief executive Brian Budden said.

Plenary has already added two senior vice presidents to its origination team at the firm’s Los Angeles office this summer. Jeff Fullerton, previously a director at Maryland-based Edgemoor Infrastructure & Real Estate, joined on 14 August. Eliot Jamison, a former senior vice president for Macquarie Capital’s transportation and P3 team, started at Plenary 19 June.

Plenary has been active in the Canadian P3 market, with projects including several hospitals and government buildings. In March, a consortium led by the firm closed on a $685 million deal to build a mental healthcare facility in Toronto. The firm also closed last year on a $1.3 billion campus redevelopment at the University of California, Merced, one of the few campus P3s in the US.