Build To Rent Annual Conference

Sir David Higgins

Senior Advisor
Quintain Board

Knighted in 2011 for his services to regeneration, David has enjoyed a long and varied career. Most notably David was Chief Executive of the London Olympic Delivery Authority and joined the Quintain Board of Directors as a Senior Advisor in January 2014. He has a technical background in civil engineering and wide ranging experience in major infrastructure and building projects from funding to commercial development, design and delivery. David has been Chief Executive of four different organisations involved in the development and delivery of major projects and infrastructure over the last 22 years.

Heng Leong Cheong

CEO
EcoWorld London

Heng is CEO of EcoWorld International’s business in the UK. In his role Heng is a Director of EcoWorld’s JV projects with Ballymore (Embassy Gardens, Wardian and London City Island) and in January 2019 assumed the role of CEO of EcoWorld London. As CEO, Heng is responsible for growing the newly formed and rapidly expanding business by identifying new real estate opportunities for both private residential and Built to Rent whilst also overseeing EcoWorld London’s existing sites. Heng joined EcoWorld in 2015 from Battersea Power Station where he was triple promoted by SP Setia to General Manager, Property UK, making him the fastest promoted and youngest gm in the company.

Martine Philibert

SVP
Ivanhoe Cambridge

Martine Philibert leads the Global Asset Management team at Ivanhoé Cambridge. Appointed to her current role in 2018, she is Senior Vice President, Global Asset Management. Martine’s role is to oversee the asset management teams across the company’s platforms and enhance the post-investment performance of its portfolio of close to C$65 billion in assets. Since 1994, Martine has held various managerial positions within the real estate subsidiaries of the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, managing large-scale real estate investments. Until March 2018, she led the Residential Asset Management team, with C$14 billion under management totalling over 20,000 apartments located mostly in the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada. Martine obtained her Bachelor’s Degree in Urban Planning from Université de Montréal, and received a postgraduate degree in Business Administration at HEC Montreal (DSA/MBA program). Additionally, she obtained a Directors Education Program certificate from McGill University. She is a member of the Canadian Institute of Corporate Directors and Canadian Institute of Planners. Martine is a Board Member of Quartier International de Montréal and La Fondation de l’Office Municipal d’Habitation de Montréal. She is also a member of the ULI Residential BF Council and CREW Montreal.

Roger Wade

CEO & Founder
Boxpark

Roger Wade is the Founder and ex CEO of British Street Fashion brand, Boxfresh. After graduating from University, Roger started Boxfresh in 1989.  He grew the Boxfresh brand from a market stall, to an International Brand selling in over 12 different countries. Soon after starting Boxfresh he attended the Inaugural Early Growth Program, now the Entrepreneurs program at London Business School. Boxfresh were renowned pioneers of the British Street scene, and were the first to import labels like Carhartt, G-Star and Penfield into the UK. In 2005, Roger sold the Boxfresh to Pentland Brands and formed his own Brand Consultancy, Brands Incorporated, specialising in the development, financing and licensing of UK Fashion Brands. In 2010, Roger founded and created the World’s 1st Pop Up Mall, Boxpark Shoreditch. In 2015 Boxpark launched Boxpark Croydon its first Food and Drink only retail concept, and in 2018 launched Boxpark Wembley, a new Fanzone for Wembley Stadium and Arena visitors.  Roger was a regular columnist for Drapers, spoke at various conferences including World Retail Congress, Futuretail, Imagine 2014, Digital Shoreditch, Drapers Fashion Summit, to name a few. He also was an Associate Lecturer at London College of Fashion, and a member of the Cool Brands Council. He was featured on the CNBC Pop Up Start Up and BBC2 Robert Peston Goes Shopping program on the Future of Retail. He sat on eBay Enterprise Exec Advisory Board and REVO advisory board Roger is a creative entrepreneur. He believes that all brands should be special and identifies those special brands/projects and adds values to them. He is passionate about Independent brands, the Future of Retail, and thinking outside the Box!

Sir Edward Lister

Chairman
Homes England

Sir Edward Lister is Chairman of the Homes and Communities Agency and a Non Executive Director at the Foreign Office. Sir Edward Lister has a considerable background in facilitating large-scale urban regeneration schemes and coordinating major public & private sector partnerships. He joins the FCO from local government. Previous roles include: Chief of Staff to the Mayor of London Deputy Mayor for Policy and Planning at City Hall and Leader of Wandsworth Council. Chairman of the Old Oak Common Development Corporation Chairman of London and Partners the agency responsible for inward investment to London and tourism His current roles include: Chairman of the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) Director at Covent Garden Market Authority Governor at the Museum of London

Jay Kwan

Head of Europe
QuadReal

Jay Kwan joined QuadReal as Managing Director, Europe in February 2018. His focus is on building the international portfolio, with an emphasis on investing in Global Cities in the U.K. and Europe. Jay was formerly a Managing Director at TPG Real Estate, the real estate investment group of private equity firm TPG, specifically focused on European investments. Prior to joining TPG in 2016, Jay was a Partner at Grove International Partners, an independent real estate private equity firm spun out from Soros Private Funds Management, where he spent 13 years investing in three continents across all asset classes at both the corporate and asset level. Jay began his career at Lehman Brothers Real Estate Partners in New York in 2001. Jay graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Economics and Political Science from Columbia University in New York. Jay is committed to excellence in investing and prudent stewardship of the portfolio with a long-term focus.

Victoria Quinlan

Managing Director Investment Management
Lendlease

Victoria Quinlan is a Managing Director at Lendlease and Head of the Investment Management business in Europe. Based in London, Victoria is responsible for driving the strategic direction and growth of Lendlease's European Investment Management activities. Victoria has held numerous positions both in the UK and Australia and prior to Victoria's current role, she was European Chief Operating Officer and European CFO. Victoria has significant experience in real estate investment, funds management, business operations, finance and capital markets transactions.

Jeremy Fletcher

COO
Tipi

Jeremy joined Tipi in January 2019 as Chief Operating Officer, having had extensive senior level experience across the commercial and consumer environments. Most recently, Jeremy was Chief Operating Officer UK & Ireland at research, data and insight giant, Kantar, having previously enjoyed senior UK and international operations and marketing roles at brands such as Caffè Nero, Avis Budget, Travelodge and Whitbread. Jeremy is passionate about building and developing a team at Tipi that will deliver world class customer service and seamless operations across the business.

Steven Ivankovich

CEO
Atlas Residential

Steven has been in the property business since 1993 and is a founding member of Atlas Residential where he is CEO. Steven has experience in all phases of property acquisition, development, financing and management, including asset identification and evaluation, marketing, contract negotiation and fund raising. He has been involved in over $7 billion of property transactions to date, and has overseen $450m of construction and renovation. As an honors graduate of the University of Chicago he also guest lectures there on the topics of residential property and property finance.

Anna Strongman

Partner
Argent

At present, she joint leads the asset management team and oversees the estate management, property management, placemaking and regeneration initiatives at Argent’s King’s Cross development. This is a major mixed use scheme in central London. Before joining Argent six years ago, Anna worked for the planning and development team at Arup leading a number of planning and regeneration projects for the public and private sector.

Paul van Stiphout

Senior Portfolio Manager
APG

Paul van Stiphout is a Senior Portfolio Manager of Real Estate in the Amsterdam office of APG Asset Management (APG). In this capacity he is responsible for sourcing, negotiating, structuring, executing, managing and ultimately disposing European private real estate investments of various shapes and forms, across various geographies and across the total risk-return spectrum. Paul joined APG in November 2010. Prior to that he was a portfolio manager at Doctors Pension Fund Services (currently part of PGGM) responsible for a portfolio of real estate and private equity investments in Europe and Asia-Pacific. Paul has close to 15 years of experience in real estate. He holds a Master of Science degree in Architecture and Construction from the Department of Real Estate Management & Development of Eindhoven University of Technology.

Sylvana Young

Get Living

Sylvana is Chief Design Officer at Get Living. Sylvana's area of expertise in Build to Rent is generating asset value through creating places where people want to live, work and visit. Sylvana works collaboratively with the whole design team to ensure that the Get Living experience, knowledge and brand values are immersed into all elements of the projects, from façade to landscape, from structure to IT. Sylvana has more than 20 years of residential property management experience. This includes resident journey, design for management, mobilisation, property management & service delivery. Prior to her role at Get Living, Sylvana was a founder of Young Group, providing strategic consulting advice to institutional investors and housing associations on their Private Rented Sector activity as well as being a Director of Young London, the multi award winning letting agency. Sylvana read Real Estate Management at Oxford Brookes University.

Andrew Screen

CIO UK
Cortland Partners

Andrew Screen, Chief Investment Officer UK, Cortland - Andrew has over 25 years experience in property development and finance, starting his career as a quantity surveyor before moving into merchant banking, property development and structured finance and he specialises in residential development finance in the UK and international markets. He has close relationships with the banks, pension funds, private equity, opportunistic and sovereign wealth funds, and sets up joint ventures between funders, developers and local authorities to fund real estate development and residential projects. Andrew heads up Cortland’s investment and development in the UK and is currently rolling out Cortland’s 5 year, 10,000unit (£4bn) Build to Rent programme across the UK. Cortland is a US multifamily/Build to Rent property developer, investor and operator of c50,000 units in the US and expanded its operations into the UK in 2017. Andrew speaks regularly at conferences, posts to Twitter and established the LinkedIn Private Rented Sector (PRS) group.

Stewart Knight

Acquisitions Director
PLATFORM

Stewart has 28 years of experience in the property industry, where he has originated and lead transactions across the office, retail, residential, hotel and leisure sectors. Stewart has been involved with many landmark developments in London, often coordinating the planning and design whilst negotiating complex ownership structures and financing. Before PLATFORM_, Stewart worked as a director at Candy & Candy, the world’s leading luxury residential developer. Earlier in his career, Stewart was a partner and Head of City Development at Weatherall, Green & Smith (now BNP Paribas Real Estate). He graduated with an Honours degree in Law from the University of Bristol.

Duncan Sutherland

Regeneration Director
Sigma Capital

Duncan is the Group Regeneration Director and has been key in developing the overall Partnership model, working with local government partners, and has been at the forefront in setting up the successful partnerships currently on the company’s books, such as in Solihull, Salford, and Liverpool. Duncan works closely with the government promoting this innovative approach to achieving regeneration. Duncan is also a Non-Executive Director of Scottish Canals and has recently been appointed in a similar capacity by the Secretary of State for Transport to the board of HS2 Ltd, the new high speed railway to be built between London and the north.

Jennifer Smith

Senior Managing Director
Greystar

Jen Smith is a Senior Managing Director leading Greystar’s global People & Culture function and is a member of the Greystar Executive Committee. She is responsible for ensuring Greystar has strategies and practices that attract, retain, develop, reward and recognize diverse talent, and supports the achievement of strategic objectives through team members. She leads enterprise-level programs, initiatives, policies, and procedures that promote a globally shared culture that is reflective of Greystar’s Core Values and Pillars of Excellence. Prior to joining Greystar, Jen was a Human Resources Director at MoneyGram International, a global money transfer and payment services company where she led a team of Human Resources Business Partners in providing support to leaders across Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia-Pacific. Jen is a chartered member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development. Jen earned her Master of Arts in Business and Finance from Heriot Watt University, Edinburgh, and a postgraduate diploma in Human Resource Management from Strathclyde University, Glasgow.

Miles Shipside

Director
Rightmove

Miles qualified as a Chartered Surveyor in 1983 and worked for independent and corporate estate agents in the sales and lettings sector, including Midlands Regional Executive for Halifax Property services. In 2001 he joined a one year old struggling start up called Rightmove as one of the three original directors tasked with making it a success. He is Rightmove’s commentator on the property market, using their wealth of information on home movers and property.

Richard Jackson

Co-Founder Apache Capital Partners
CEO Present Made

Richard is a qualified chartered surveyor with over 15 years experience in the industry. In 2001, joined Cushman & Wakefield, predominantly working in the Syndicated Funding Team structuring and funding development and investments in the UK and Europe on behalf of retained investors including his now Partner John Dunkerley at London & Capital.   In 2006, Richard joined John at fund manager BPIM working on the UK and European Funds. The later grew from €25m-€270m over a two year period. Sectors acquired included offices, retail, out of town retail, industrial and distribution in 9 countries. In March 2008 Richard co-founded Apache Capital Partners Ltd with John.   Apache is a private real estate investment management firm with offices in London and Bahrain, and specialises predominantly in investing capital from the Middle East into the UK property markets.  Apache currently manages two Investment Platforms focusing on the alternative sectors including; Social Infrastructure (student accommodation and healthcare) and The Private Rented Sector. Apache currently has over £500m AUM with a committed pipeline which with planning with increase the portfolio size to over £1.3bn.  Richard is Managing Director and responsible for the UK business, team and strategies, the portfolio, performance, business development and investor relations.

Michael Allen

Director, Build to Rent
Quintain

Mr. Michael Allen has been Managing Director of Tipi at Quintain Limited since October 24, 2017 and served as its PRS Director since August 01, 2016 until October 24, 2017. Mr. Allen joined Quintain in 2015 to run the PRS business - Tipi. He has over 10 years of PRS experience in the US having previously managed 4,000+ units for TIAA-CREF and 2,000+ units in New York City for institutional investors. Both portfolios gave him exposure to all aspects of investment and asset management, new build/ refurbishment and operational management. He holds a Master of City Planning degree from MIT.

Andrew Fowler

Co-Founder of Locke Hotels
Saco Property Group

Prior to their recent sale to Brookfield Asset Management, Andrew joined Oaktree Capital Management's serviced apartment platform, to reposition their portfolio and to create and launch a new lifestyle aparthotel concept. As Co-Founder (Locke) and Acquisitions Director SACO he spearheads strategic growth throughout Europe. Previously Andrew founded & co-created the Serviced Apartment concept Urban Villa where he directed brand and operational platform development as well as acquisitions. Andrew has been involved in the serviced apartment industry since 2007 and was previous previously a Director of StayCity Serviced Apartments, where he was an instrumental figure in the establishment and the development of a leading European serviced apartment company.

Charles Armstrong

Founder & CEO
The Trampery

Charles is a social entrepreneur based in Hackney Wick, London. He founded The Trampery in 2009 with a mission to implement new innovation districts and support entrepreneurship across society. Working with local governments and landowners, The Trampery has to date opened 11 workspaces in London including specialist facilities for fashion, travel, software and media. Its Fish Island Village initiative is creating Europe’s largest campus for fashion on a six acre site in east London. Outside the UK, The Trampery also led the development of Tøyen Startup Village with the City of Oslo. Alongside its workspace initiatives the Trampery’s Pathways courses have revolutionised entrepreneur training with an approach based on each entrepreneur’s underlying motivations and wellbeing. Charles studied under Lord Young of Dartington, one of the architects of Britain’s post-war society, and is a Fellow of the School for Social Entrepreneurs. Charles is a keen pianist and photographer. He enjoys yachting, kayaking and snowboarding.

Tracy Peacock

Head of BTR
Native

Tracy Peacock, is Head of BTR at Native, one of the largest BTR/aparthotel operators in the UK, with £1.7bn AUM. She oversees Native’s BTR business which comprises of 1,500 apartments, either in operation or under construction, across the UK. Key sites include the 533-apartment Kampus scheme in Manchester, a 183-unit Carolyn House scheme in East Croydon and the stylish 102-home Dalston Works development in London. Native BTR works with a broad range of Build to Rent investors including Dorrington, Aviva, LaSalle, CBREi, Woking Borough Council and Ares. She ensures that Native BTR projects continue to be known for their design quality, as vibrant communities that are efficiently managed and supported by revenue management technology that drives consistently strong top line returns. Tracy has over 20 years’ experience in residential leasing, working at the forefront of the ‘multi-family’ sector in Chicago, USA. She joins from Lennar Multi-Family Communities where she spent the last three years bringing 2,100 units to the market including liaison with the development team, operations, budget forecasts, marketing and asset management.

Mark Woodrow

Joint Managing Director
Packaged Living

Mark is a Chartered Engineer and leads the Development side of the Packaged Living business. He is an experienced and recognised developer who has worked on over 3000 BtR homes during a career spanning over 20 years. Mark was formerly Director of Development at Grainger plc, where he spent 10 years helping source and create the UK’s leading residential investment platform.

Chris Coxall

Project Director
Muse

Chris joined Muse as a projects director in 2012, to manage a variety of mixed-use regeneration schemes in the South of the UK. Among several schemes he has notably been the project lead on Lewisham Gateway, which has seen major infrastructure works completed to unlock the development, before work began on the new homes. Once complete, Lewisham Gateway will provide over 1,000 homes, with circa 80% BTR, alongside retail and leisure uses, as well as extensive public realm improvements. Throughout his 30-year career, Chris, has been at the forefront of early BTR deals and has witnessed at first hand the progress of the sector from a developer’s perspective. Prior to Muse, Chris established a wealth of development experience with Brixton plc, Easter Group and his own consultancy practice.

Shamez Alibhai

Head of Community Housing and Portfolio Manager
Man GPM

Shamez Alibhai is Head of Community Housing and Portfolio Manager at Man Global Private Markets (‘Man GPM’) and is a member of Man Group’s Responsible Investment Committee. He is responsible for managing the Man GPM RI Community Housing Fund and leading the business, team and strategy. Prior to joining Man GPM in January 2019, Shamez spent 12 years at Cheyne Capital, where he was a partner and portfolio manager of the UK’s first institutional affordable housing strategy. He previously co-ran the firm’s real estate debt business. He has also worked at Credit Suisse, where he was responsible for the mortgage loan trading platform, and at Barclays where he was a senior structurer. Shamez holds Master’s degrees from Yale University and McGill University.

Richard Harvey

Partner
PRP Architects

Richard is responsible for championing the highest standard of design across PRP, motivating staff from all teams to uphold the practice's vision and design quality, whether this be for a large masterplan or the smallest detail. The nature and variation of the projects that he has undertaken at PRP means that he has a thorough understanding and experience of the issues and aspirations of residents, clients and developers at all stages in the design and delivery process. Richard has experience of all RIBA stages, with specific expertise in design conception and project development, and has worked on many award-winning schemes. He is currently leading on some of PRP's most high profile projects including a significant build to rent scheme at Wembley Park for Quintain, volumetric modular houses and apartments for Berkeley Group at Kidbrooke, and the 2,532 home Clapham Park masterplan for Metropolitan, which is considered to be the largest detailed planning application in the history of the UK.

Jo Green

Head of Business Development
Home Made

Jo Green is Head of Business Development at Home Made, the UK’s leading Build to Rent leasing specialists. With extensive experience in the UK’s Build to Rent market Jo has worked within the leasing, operations and legal segments and has spoken at various UK and overseas conferences as well as frequently contributing to industry publications with thought leadership and insight pieces on the Build to Rent sector.

David Kosky

Co-Founder
Work.Life

David is one of the co-founders of Work.Life, a coworking space based in London, Reading and Manchester with a focus on delivering real benefits to small businesses by creating a happy and engaging workspace experience. Before setting up Work.Life he spent 7 years in alternative fundraising for a variety of institutions, businesses and start-ups and was involved in investment deals totalling over $1bn. He has expertise in sales, fundraising and strategic growth for early stage businesses.

Matt Halfpenny

Managing Director & Co-Owner
Property Recruitment Company

Matt Halfpenny is the Managing Director and Co-owner of The Property Recruitment Company having joined the Business in March 2016. Matt Originally helped grow PRC’s strong presence in the Purpose Built Student Accommodation Sector, before playing a key role in building and developing their BTR offering. Matt has successfully overseen a number of key appointments and site mobilisation projects in the UK BTR space and continues to advise clients on their talent acquisition and onboarding strategies. Matt, along with his colleagues at PRC are committed to supporting the BTR sector in bringing the very best talent from a diverse range of sectors and supporting the sector with relevant market intelligence. Matt has over fifteen years recruitment experience, the majority of which has been spent in senior leadership positions within the property sectors.

Andy Mullins

Head of Business Development
NHBC

With 40 years in the Construction Industry, Andy started his career as a carpenter and joiner. During his 18 years at Bovis Construction he swiftly progressed through the ranks to Project Director on a large London development for the BBC, winning a number of industry awards along the way. From 1997, Andy worked at senior level for a number of residential developer organisations including Berkeley Homes, Gladedale Homes Mizen Properties and also worked briefly in Dubai before the global banking crisis struck. He joined NHBC in 2009 as Head of Inspection managing NHBC’s inspection service across 18 counties including London, stretching from the south coast of England up to Yorkshire and this service currently delivers over 1 million inspections per year. In 2015 Andy headed up the creation of NHBC’s new Major Projects Team based in London. This team specialises in large complex residential and mixed-use projects including, for example, the Battersea Power Station and Nine Elms regeneration projects. With the backdrop of the Grenfell tragedy, recent years have been challenging and rewarding as we advised and guided our customers in the ever-changing regulatory world we faced. Late in 2018 Andy took the opportunity to head up and create a new Business Development Team, focussing on emerging markets, and maintaining our 80% market share within the UK new home warranty sector.

James Redmond

Director
IN2 Engineering

James has over 20 years experience in the Building Services Industry and is a specialist in Build To Rent Developments. As a Director at IN2, an industry leading MEP Engineering Consultancy based in the UK and Ireland, James takes the lead in many of the company’s larger scale projects and has been responsible for such developments as Muirfield and Cabra (residential BTR), Trinity Business School and the impressive Tamburlaine Hotel in Cambridge. Currently James is leading IN2 teams on over 3,000 BTR units across the UK and Ireland, introducing innovative low energy, low maintenance building services solutions to these projects. These include a 700 unit development for Glenveagh, a 780 unit BTR scheme for Marlet, a 520 unit scheme for Chartered Land amongst others. In addition, James has considerable experience in the design and installation of mechanical services across numerous sectors including hotels, commercial office, healthcare, theatre and leisure facilities.

Martin King

Director of Business Development, Marketing & Comms
FirstPort

Martin King is Director of Business Development, Marketing & Communications at FirstPort, the UK’s largest residential property manager. Martin joined FirstPort in September 2016, having left CBRE Asset Services and Rating where he was Head of Business Development. With over 15 years at board level, Martin brings a wealth of experience in delivering sustained company growth and increased sales. Martin has a lead role in FirstPort’s Build to Rent business and is working closely with investors and developers on a number of schemes across the country.

Andrew Walker

Partner & Sales Development Manager
John Lewis & Partners

Joined the John Lewis Partnership in 2008 and have held a mix of Branch leadership and commercial leadership roles. I lead the business development for John Lewis for Business with a particular focus on working to add value to property professionals across new residential space, build to rent and education/office customers. We can support with furnishing, technology and gifts/incentives. Previously I worked on a number of new shop openings and also new operating models for both Waitrose and John Lewis so have spent quite a bit of my career considering how location and specification of physical space is important for determining the commercial success of a building.

Steve Bowcott

Chief Executive Officer
John Sisk & Son Ltd

Steve Bowcott joined engineering and construction company John Sisk & Son in September 2015 as Chief Executive Officer. With over 40 years’ experience in the construction sector Steve was formerly the Chief Operating Officer at Kier. Sisk are one of the leading Build to Rent constructors in the UK and Ireland, and have delivered projects for Quintain at Wembley Park since 2004. In that time they have delivered much of the overall regeneration, including over 1,000 residential units to date with a further 1,200 currently under construction. They have also constructed the London Designer Outlet (LDO) retail units and cinema, student accommodation, car parks, and delivered the Hilton London Wembley hotel on a turnkey basis.

Chotip Arora

Director
Fossey Arora

London based creative interior design studio with projects ranging from high volume top end residential to boutique nurseries. For the past 8.5 years, Fossey Arora has been responsible for delivering one of the most innovative interior and landscape design projects with Quintain at the UK’s largest Build to Rent development site. The Fossey Arora design ethos is simple; fluid concepts, client focused and above all, translating the vision into reality. Every project is special - a unique reflection of the client's vision, delivered with Fossey Arora's unique creativity, energy and enthusiasm. This diversity is showcased in two very different projects - The Robinson and Canada Gardens in Wembley Park

Phil Laney

Co-Founder & CEO
LYVLY

Phil founded Lyvly to bring community into people’s lives and to create happy homes. Phil has over 10 years experience in real estate private equity investments at Deutsche Bank and Realstar. Amongst other things, Phil has purchased and managed over 1,200 residential properties in the UK and 48,000 apartments in Germany. Phil is also the founder of an online educational platform to help real estate investors improve skills and knowledge. Phil has a 1st Class MEng in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Southampton and a 1st Class Msc in Real Estate Investment from the University of Reading and is a frequent guest lecturer at Henley Business School.

Trevor Youens

UK Residential Director
MRI-Software

A known and popular figure in the property industry and the property technology sector, Trevor has extensive experience earned during his time in senior roles at several pioneering software firms. Today, he leads MRI’s UK residential operations and is instrumental in the development, positioning and implementation of the company’s solutions for the, Build-to-Rent, Private Rented Sector, sales and lettings and other residential requirements. Trevor is also a respected voice in the wider proptech space – and with his remit as Managing Director he is a central figure in shaping MRI’s innovative approach to providing open and connected platforms.

Mark Kellett

Group CEO
Velocity1

Group CEO at Magnet Networks, Mark Kellett has been instrumental in growing the Irish telecoms company into a highly respected global connectivity provider. Now active in developing smart buildings, places and cities across Europe, Middle East, Asia and Central & South America, Magnet Networks had the foresight to leverage its expertise in the Smart Buildings area over 7 years ago by forming a Smart Buildings Joint Venture in the UK (Velocity1 Ltd) at a time when the construction sector was under severe pressure. This grew from Mark’s understanding that growing numbers of developers would adopt smart technology in their projects. Subsequently, Velocity1 has enabled London’s Wembley Park to become one of Western Europe’s largest urban regeneration projects with smart technology and converged network deployments. Mark draws on over 25 years’ experience in the technology, telecoms and media sectors. Having gained this with forward-looking firms including Yahoo!, Network Appliance, Sun Microsystems and Aer Lingus, he positioned Magnet Networks as a major challenger in the Irish telecoms market. This thinking is now shaping Magnet Networks’ global strategy and has attracted some of the world’s largest companies as clients. In 2018, Mark was recognized as one of Ireland's Top 100 CEOs and his commitment to innovation and entrepreneurship means he now serves on Enterprise Ireland's Start-Up Advisory Panel.

Alexandre Gruca

Chief Commercial Officer
LYVLY