FM Spotlight

Saeid Garebaglow - Mitsubishi UFG (Union Financial Group)

Published on August 18, 2022 

Saeid Garebaglow is a Corporate Real Estate leader with diverse experiences in strategy, planning, workplace management, and facilities operations. In his current role at Mitsubishi UFG (Union Financial Group), he joined Corporate Workplace Solutions in 2019 as Director, Strategy, Planning and CRM.

The challenge was to revamp and build a robust real estate function. Saeid accepted the challenge and, in collaboration with other CRE leaders, has been part of a “once in a lifetime” opportunity. Significant alignment of the real estate portfolio and the resulting savings, the enhanced end-to-end process and governance model, the deployment of technology tools and analytics, and the close partnership with the business are among the many positive outcomes of the challenge achieved to date.

Prior to his current role, Saeid led the incubation and development of Powered By We at WeWork, an integrated platform to procure, plan, build and operate space for enterprise clients globally. In addition to Real Estate Strategy and CRM expertise, he spent more than 11 years at Morgan Stanley managing the firm’s workplace planning and project delivery for the Americas. He is a registered architect and lives with his wife and son in New York City.

“I could not be happier that Saeid joined our team. He is a true Corporate Real Estate professional, and his varied experience and leadership has raised the bar across our Corporate Real Estate team. I especially appreciate Saeid’s leadership in solving problems: optimistic, collaborative and always focused on the core issues. His approach and background in design at large global firms has been invaluable in establishing credibility with our core businesses.” – Devin Long, Managing Director for CRE Strategy at Mitsubishi UFG (Union Financial Group)

What is one thing no one knows about you?  

“To pay for my college, I worked as a waiter and later managed an Italian restaurant. In the process, I learned to cook Italian food, how to prepare sauces and best way to make pasta. Learning how to cook, helped me meditate but also experiment and come up with new ideas. I often got my son to help, and he learned to cook as well. I am glad that my cooking influenced his life, and we often have 'throw downs' when making meals!”

How did you get into the Facilities/Workplace field? 

“As a registered architect, I began my career with design firms in New York. A friend introduced me to a strategic planning opportunity at Citigroup. It was a big change! The role was to manage the space planning and occupancy for the New York Tristate area. It was  a great role and soon realized, there was an opportunity to expand process, tools and technology to the Americas region and eventually, globally. It led to assignments in London and Hong Kong. The global aspect of my role and how other regions operate, was a huge learning experience. Later was recruited by Morgan Stanley to lead capital projects in the Americas. Experience in design and workplace planning was key to my success and being part of many large initiatives. My early decision to move to corporate real estate, provided the opportunity to gain experience in every aspect of CRE; its challenges, understanding business needs and facilities operations.”

Tell us about a favorite project highlight. 

“One of my favorite projects is Morgan Stanley’s HQ renovation in New York. It was a big initiative to create a modern workplace and the opportunity to think outside of the box. There were many challenges to overcome, including risks of construction in a live building (trading) and planning a workplace that will meet future needs of the company. In collaboration with the CRE team and our partners, we accomplished our goal of meeting the schedule, scope and budget  – and exceeded expectations.

What made the space stand out even more and become the greater attraction was the art installations from upcoming artists and works from inner-city programs like S.A.L.T.  The success of the art program was later expanded to other locations and also recognition of the inner-city art programs by Morgan Stanley’s business leaders.”

What is your greatest success story?

“My family and my son are my greatest success story! But on the professional side, I like to share my recent experience. I joined Corporate Real Estate Strategy with the challenge of revamping and building the capabilities but also gaining the “trusted partner” status with the business. Challenges presented themselves in every aspect of how we functioned: data integrity, planning and operating our spaces, and services we provided to our internal customers. Through collaboration, our capable team built trust with the business, creating robust processes and business-engagement models, so that we were able to overcome challenges and implement an enhanced CRE function in less than two years. The successes (and learning from failures) resulted in streamlined planning, operations, speed to market, substantial cost savings and renewed business engagement.”

Tell us about a challenge or obstacle that you face in the Real Estate/Facilities world. 

“The biggest obstacles are lack of understanding of business needs, transparency and communications. Many CRE groups still function in silos and do not have a solid understanding of the end-to-end CRE process and do not manage business relationships well. It often creates inefficiencies, long lead times, disengaged teams and unhappy clients (businesses). Technology is another area where big gaps exist within technology and CRE teams. Space and technology are intertwined. A productive workplace that will attract and retain talent is dependent on fully functional spaces and technology to support it.”

What learning experience would you pass onto future FMs? 

“The industry has changed to Customer Experience Service. Learn from the hospitality industry to bring exceptional service to the business(es) that you support. On the initiative and project side, get involved in the upfront planning. FMs will inherit the space and are then responsible for the operations of it for years to come. Better foresight and incorporation of facilities operational experience in planning and building workplaces will mitigate risk and significantly reduce operational issues, costs and, more importantly, enhance the workplace experience.”

Interviewed by Sonya Verny, MCR.w, IFMA NYC Secretary & Executive Committee Oversight for the Communications Committee