Rise & Shine: The Future of East London

Roger Black has been innovating new development product and its communications 'wrap' to deliver commercially successful, award-winning schemes, for many years. Trained in architecture and construction, marketing and strategy, his focus is on the notion of the 'experience economy' - a view which asserts that what really sells is not bricks and mortar, but rather the experiences attached to it.

Peter is responsible for sourcing, analysis and execution of investments. Prior to joining Crosstree, Peter was with First Growth Real Estate Capital, most recently as an Associate, based in London. At FGREC, Peter worked on pan-European restructuring of and investment in real estate, preferred equity and debt secured by real estate. Prior to joining FGREC in 2009, Peter was an investment analyst at ING Real Estate. Peter received a BA Hons from the faculty of Business, Finance, and Economics at Durham University, and an MSc in Real Estate from Oxford Brookes University.

Making her way all the way from Iran to the US while still only a teenager, Elli found her feet in San Francisco, gaining a BA in hotel and restaurant management before beginning her career in a series of high end establishments across the states, including tenures at Spago, Bellagio Hotel, and Restaurant Le Cirque specialising in openings. Her passion and experience was soon spotted by Morgan’s Hotel Group where she was hired as Corporate F+B Director and entrusted with overseeing all aspects of their 13 global properties including not only food and beverage operations, but also the largest to the smallest details of architecture and design. After a spell at the Deerbrook Group, Elli brings her unique and inspiring management style and inimitable fashion sense to East London as the Managing Director of the Curtain.

Tim Reeve became the Chief Operating Officer of the Victoria and Albert Museum in August 2013. As well as Chairing the Senior Management Team, Tim has overall responsibility for the effective and efficient operation of the Museum, and the delivery of a coherent visitor experience strategy, with a particular focus on South Kensington. He directly manages the divisions responsible for Commercial & Digital Development, Finance & Resources, Design, Exhibitions & FuturePlan, and Learning & Visitor Experience. Before joining the V&A, Tim was Director of Historic Properties at English Heritage, responsible for the 420 historic properties which make up the National Heritage Collection. His remit covered all aspects of the visitor experience, EH’s long-term capital programme, and maintenance and conservation of the historic estate. During Tim’s tenure the turnover of the NHC grew to over £50m a year, with an operational deficit of nearly £10m pa becoming an operational surplus of nearly £5m, with visitor numbers in excess of 5m a year, and with the number of EH members growing towards 1m a year. Tim is a graduate in Ancient History from Royal Holloway, University of London, and studied at the Institute of Archaeology (UCL) and INSEAD, on its International Executive Programme. He has served as a Trustee of the Hadrian’s Wall Trust and of the Association of Leading Visitor Attractions (ALVA), and is a member of the board of the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire.

Laura Gander-Howe is Director of Public Engagement & Culture for UAL:London College of Fashion. Her role is focussed on supporting the Colleges move to a brand new campus in the heart of the new waterfront cultural & education District in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. Before this role, Laura was Director: Learning of Arts Council England. During her ten year tenure, she oversaw the policy and strategy development for cultural education. Throughout her career, Laura has combined her passion for the arts, creativity and education to drive social change. In her spare time, Laura enjoys walking and training her lively weimaraner, Lillie.

Tony Travers is Director of LSE London, a research centre at the London School of Economics. He is also a Visiting Professor in the LSE’s Government Department. His key research interests include local and regional government and public service reform. He is currently an advisor to the House of Commons Children, Schools and Families Select Committee and the Communities and Local Government Select Committee. He has published a number of books on cities and government, including Failure in British Government, The Politics of the Poll Tax (with David Butler and Andrew Adonis), Paying for Health, Education and Housing: How does the Centre Pull the Purse Strings (with Howard Glennerster and John Hills) and The Politics of London: Governing the Ungovernable City.

Jacob founded General Projects in 2016, a real estate developer and operator that creates experiential, innovative and dynamic buildings, designed around the needs of the new economy. Over his career he has the led the acquisition and development of over £1.5bn of real estate spanning over 2 million sq ft of mixed-use projects, winning a number of notable industry awards in the process. With a passion for architecture and design, Jacob has overseen the reinvention of the iconic Grade II listed One Poultry, the award-winning development of Alphabeta, and the creation of Expressway, an SME workspace and industrial complex.

Mr. Wolstenholme formed Trilogy Real Estate LLP as a UK-focused investment and development management business in 2015. His principle responsibilities include the creation and management of Trilogy’s projects. Prior to founding Trilogy, Mr. Wolstenholme was Investment Director at Resolution, where he was responsible for the acquisition, strategic business planning, procurement, and letting of multiple office, retail and residential schemes. While at Resolution, Mr. Wolstenholme was personally responsible for 13 transactions, investing over £300m of equity with a gross IRR of over 28% and a 1.9x cash multiple. Mr. Wolstenholme spent 14 years at JLL where he gained a wide range of professional real estate experience, most notably advising a range of UK institutions, developers and international corporations on the funding of major real estate undertakings. Mr. Wolstenholme has a degree in Architecture from the Batlet School of Architecture, UCL and a qualification in Chartered Surveying (MRICS), as well as a diploma in Finance from the Securities Institute.

Luke is a Chartered Surveyor with over 15 years’ specialist experience in Tenant Representation in the U.K. During his 12 years at DeVono Cresa, he has overseen more than 7 million square feet of commercial leasing transactions for clients – providing them with strategic and tactical support across a wide range of real estate opportunities, challenges and requirements. As CEO at DeVono Cresa, Luke is responsible for the commercial direction of the business, and for the development of the firm’s portfolio of services. Well known clients of the firm include: A.T. Kearney, Red Bull, Investec AM, Twitter, Zoopla, Foxtons, Mace Group, UCL, Deloitte, Mergermarket and GLG.

Georgina started her career as a researcher in a major accountancy firm before moving on to become an investment analyst for an institutional client stock broker and then a major investment bank. Georgina then joined the Securities and Investments Board (one of the FCA’s predecessor organisations) specialising in investigations, particularly of unauthorised business. Georgina has extensive enforcement experience across all areas of financial services including dispute resolution through settlement and mediation, involving a range of financial services firms. Georgina became Chief Operating Officer in November 2015. She was previously Acting Director of Enforcement and Market Oversight, and prior to that was Director of Strategy and Delivery in the Enforcement and Financial Crime Division. Georgina Chaired the International Organisation of Securities Commissions' (IOSCO) Committee on Enforcement and the Exchange of Information and its Screening Group between 2008-2016, which assesses applications to sign the Multilateral Memorandum of Understanding (MMoU). Her committees delivered IOSCO’s credible deterrence report and the new MMoU. Georgina is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute for Securities and Investment.

Lisa Gledhill is the Project Director for International Quarter London (a joint venture between Lendlease and LCR), where she is ultimately responsible for all aspects of this £3bn development in Stratford. Lisa took up the role in September 2017 after returning from Lendlease Asia where she was part of the leadership team on Paya Lebar Quarter, a £2bn mixed-use development in central Singapore. Lisa, a chartered engineer, brings 25 years of experience across the full property value chain having started her career at Arup and held roles with, amongst others, Laing O’Rourke before joining Lendlease in the UK in 2010.

Jenny Steen is the Sales Director for Ballymore where she assumes overall responsibility for sales strategy and transactions in multiple global markets. Since joining in 2009, Jenny has worked on 11 schemes from sales through to completion. A law graduate from Trinity College Dublin, Jenny went on to complete a Master’s degree in Law at University College London before embarking on her career in property.