Hardy Milsch, Brazil’s country manager since 2013, views running our business there and growing our portfolio of customers and facilities as one of his biggest challenges and accomplishments.
Of his time in Brazil, Hardy says he is most proud of “building a fantastic team of young professionals who understand our priorities, our desire for quality and our desire to be market leaders.”
Hardy’s predecessor in Brazil, Nick Kittredge, launched Prologis CCP, a partnership between Prologis and Cyrela Commercial Properties (CCP), Brazil’s leading operator and developer of commercial real estate in 2008. At the start, Nick shared a single desk with two other people. Since then, the partnership has developed almost 9 million square feet across eight industrial parks—six in São Paulo and two in Rio de Janeiro.
As a kid growing up on the north side of Chicago and later helping his parents run their two German restaurants in Mexico, Hardy never imagined a career in industrial real estate. Nor did he envision raising a family in South America. His education in hospitality and restaurant management led him to a hotel management job in Texas. He switched to industrial real estate when Hines, a large property management company, approached him with an offer he couldn’t refuse.
In July 2007, Hardy left Hines to join AMB as head of leasing for Mexico. In 2011, after AMB and ProLogis merged to form Prologis, he became the company’s market officer for Guadalajara and Central Mexico.
Soon after, Hardy was offered the country manager position for Brazil. Of the transition from Mexico to Brazil, Hardy says, “While there are many similarities between Mexico and other Latin American countries, Brazil's background is unique. It is a melting pot of many different cultures.”
When asked about his greatest personal accomplishment in Brazil, Hardy acknowledges that learning Portuguese in his forties was a feat. After two moves, three countries and a decade at Prologis, Hardy reflects on why Prologis is a great place to work: “The fact that our leadership is crystal clear on where we are headed. It's up to us on how to get there but their direction is straightforward.”
In early 2018, Hardy accepted a position on the Americas Global Customer Solutions team. In this role, he strengthened the overall team while leveraging his Latin American experience to cultivate customer and broker relationships in a region where Prologis is expanding rapidly. Hardy works out of the Dallas office, adding a third market to his tenure at Prologis.
