Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, February 2026 — Lendlease today announced it has appointed Claire Johnston as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Development. Claire will transition from her current role as CEO Americas, Lendlease, in April.
Claire is a highly experienced executive that has held a number of senior positions during her almost 30-year career at Lendlease. She has spent the past 10 years in the US overseeing key development projects and partnerships, including as Managing Director of US Military Housing, in partnership with the United States Department of Defense, and as Managing Director of the Google Development Venture.
In Australia, Claire held a number of Executive Project Director positions, including overseeing the first stage of Lendlease’s multi-billion dollar mixed-use redevelopment of the Victoria Harbour precinct in Melbourne.
Claire brings deep leadership and capital partnering experience as well as real estate and development expertise spanning urban renewal, origination, structuring, sustainable projects and project execution. Most recently Claire has been responsible for the delivery of key joint venture projects in the US, including The Riverie and Habitat build-to-rent developments, alongside partner Aware Super, as well as progressing US capital recycling initiatives.
As CEO Development, Claire will return home to Australia to drive the growth and performance of the Development business, with momentum continuing to build, having secured ~$5 billion of new Australian project wins this financial year to date.
Claire’s appointment follows Tom Mackellar’s decision to pursue an external opportunity. Since joining Lendlease in 2006, Tom has been a valued team member and has worked in roles spanning Mergers and Acquisitions, Finance and Development. Most recently as CEO Development, Tom has led a high performing team that has been successful in winning new projects and positioning the business for its next phase of growth. Beyond Lendlease, he has contributed to the industry as a board member of the Property Council of Australia and Committee for Sydney, in addition to supporting the work of FutureSteps.
Lendlease thanks Tom for his contribution to Lendlease over his almost 20-year career and wishes him the best in his new venture.
Quotes attributable to Tony Lombardo, Group CEO Lendlease:
“We are pleased to welcome Claire back to Australia as CEO Development, to drive the growth and performance of our Development business. Claire brings a depth of real estate knowledge, development and investment experience that we will leverage to further our ambitions to grow our business, continue the restocking of our pipeline and deliver sustainable returns for securityholders.”
Lendlease is Australia’s leading real estate business with an international investments platform. We’re city shapers, asset creators and trusted partners.
Our deep property experience and bold thinking delivers innovative real estate and investment solutions.
Very few organisations can build cities from scratch, including the infrastructure to connect people, with skills to design, develop, fund, build and manage, but we can.
We purposefully seek to hire people who share our values and passion to make a positive impact. Whether big or small, we make a difference and all of us have a part to play in our success. Together we make a difference.
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