Karen Brennan is approaching her 25th anniversary with global real estate services firm JLL, her first and only employer.
Now the company’s CFO, Brennan was a recent business administration graduate when she joined the firm’s LaSalle Investment Management unit in 1999 as an acquisitions financial analyst. She moved into portfolio and asset management two years later.
Almost a decade after starting with the firm, Brennan took one of many risks when she relocated to the Singapore and Hong Kong offices as portfolio manager for LaSalle's Asia Opportunity Funds. Soon after arriving, she began contributing to the company’s efforts to restructure and stabilize its business in the region after the 2008 global financial crisis.
After returning to the U.S. in 2013, Brennan led LaSalle’s Americas Custom Accounts group. Before being named CFO of parent company JLL in 2020, she was in London for a year as CEO of LaSalle Europe.
Karen Brennan
CFO, JLL
- First CFO position: 2020
- Notable previous employers:
This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.
SANDRA BECKWITH: You have worked for JLL in some form your entire career. What made that possible for both you and the company?
KAREN BRENNAN: I'd say there are three factors. First, the company has grown tremendously over the course of my 25-year career here, so there were always new opportunities. Second, I've had incredibly strong sponsors. Those relationships have been important as I've learned and grown, and I'm so grateful to those people.
Third, I’ve always been willing to take risks that have included moving to another country and a different part of the business. That willingness has paid off in terms of my professional progress.
Was becoming CFO always the goal?
BRENNAN: It wasn't on my radar, so I was surprised when I was approached about the position. After asking a lot of questions, I saw how this opportunity would allow me to continue to learn, grow, and challenge myself – all things I enjoy.
What particularly attracted me was how it would allow me to expand my perspective and influence over the company’s strategic direction and financial performance. It meant taking another risk, but I'm incredibly glad I did.
What made you the right candidate for the CFO position at JLL?
BRENNAN: I came to this position with a nontraditional background in investment management, but I knew the business, had been with the company for more than two decades, and held leadership roles in our three regions around the world. I also knew enough senior leaders that I wasn't coming in completely cold and starting from the bottom.
How do you determine who you hire in finance?
BRENNAN: Beyond the table stakes of technical acumen, I look for strong intellect, a passion for driving excellence and continuing to raise the bar, and intellectual curiosity. I like people who put their team before themselves and can build relationships across the organization. That’s how they can drive change and solve problems with other stakeholders.
What part of the CFO’s job is more difficult for you because of your background?
BRENNAN: My nontraditional background means I had a steep learning curve. Certain things translated over, but I didn’t have deep expertise in tax, treasury, or controllership accounting, or finance operations. In addition to getting up to speed at a level where I could ask the right questions and create the right level of dialogue with my team, the key to success for me was to place strong leaders in those roles.
"I’ve always been willing to take risks that have included moving to another country and a different part of the business. That willingness has paid off in terms of my professional progress."
Karen Brennan
CFO of JLL
It’s my job to make sure their voices are heard in decision-making conversations. Other stakeholders need to consider the key issues my finance leaders bring to discussions from their areas of expertise.
What advice would you give others in finance hoping to become CFOs?
BRENNAN: Develop your network and relationships within your finance organization, but make sure you're branching out beyond that to other stakeholders across the firm. Zoom out to understand the enterprise from a broader perspective. Hone your ability to ask the right questions, too. Learn how to simplify complexity so important financial messages are heard and understood.
How might international experience like yours support someone working in finance who aspires to be a CFO?
BRENNAN: It’s extremely valuable, whether you aspire to be a CFO of a company with a global presence or not because it teaches you how to see both risks and opportunities from different perspectives.
It also reinforces the idea that you don't need to have all the answers when going into something new, but you do need to know how to ask the right questions. When you’re dropped into a completely new environment, you have to learn what those questions are. You become aware of how your industry might be different around the world or in other regions of the country