The Indianapolis office of the CB Richard Ellis commercial real estate brokerage announced Friday that John Merrill has been named managing director.

Merrill, who joined CBRE in 1996, replaces David Reed, who left the top position after seven years in late August to work for WisselReed Relocations, an Atlas Van Lines moving and storage franchise he started with his brother-in-law, David Wissel, in 2007.

Merrill founded the local brokerage’s local commercial investment properties team and has negotiated more than $2 billion in sales in Indiana and the Midwest.

“John is one of the most highly regarded professionals in our local office and throughout the Indianapolis business community,” said Mike Gerard, CBRE’s senior managing director for the Midwest region, in a prepared statement. “He is a terrific leader, savvy businessperson and strong manager, and these attributes will serve him well in driving our continued growth in central Indiana.”

Before joining CBRE, Merrill spent nine years at Duke Realty Corp., ascending to director of financial underwriting for the locally based developer.

The local office of Los Angeles-based CBRE has 38 brokers, according to IBJ research, second only to the 48 brokers employed by the local office of St. Louis-based Cassidy Turley.