Alvin L. Swanson Jr. was named president...

Alvin L. Swanson Jr. was named president and chief executive of San Francisco-based Grubb & Ellis Co., replacing Harold A. Ellis Jr., who is retiring.

Marvin M. Grove replaces Ellis as chairman of the board of directors.

Swanson is now executive director of the Deaconess Research Institute in Billings, Mont., and previously served as president of Grubb & Ellis Commercial Brokerage Co. He was associated with the company from 1961 until 1985, except for a two-year leave of absence during which he served as president and chief executive of the Denver Technological Center, a 950-acre planned urban community in Denver.

Grubb & Ellis bills itself as the largest full-service real estate company in the country.