London Real Estate Leadership: 2025 Forecast

Bill joined Legal & General in 2007 and is responsible for transforming its UK property fund management business into a global real assets platform. Operating in both the direct investment and lending markets, today it actively invests and manages over £35bn of assets across real estate, infrastructure and corporate and alternative debt. Bill continues to play an active role in several influential government and industry committees around responsible investing, infrastructure, urban regeneration and housing. He is a Global Governing Trustee of the Urban Land Institute and is on the UK Net Zero Carbon Buildings Standard (NZCBS) Governance Board. Bill is also Chair of the Property Industry Alliance (PIA), which brings together the UK’s leading property bodies to give them a stronger collective voice on issues such as policy, research and best practice. Prior to joining Legal & General, Bill was CEO at RREEF UK (the Real Estate Fund Management business of DWS) and Head of Research and Deputy Managing Director at Schroder Property Investment Management.

Simon has extensive experience of finance and the real estate sector. He joined British Land from Logicor, the owner and operator of European logistics real estate, where he had served as chief financial officer since January 2017. Prior to joining Logicor, from 2015 to 2017 Simon was finance director at Quintain Estates & Development Plc. Simon previously spent over 10 years with British Land, working in a variety of financial and strategic roles and was a member of our Executive Committee from 2012 until his departure in January 2015. Simon also previously worked for UBS in fixed income and qualified as a chartered accountant with Arthur Andersen.

Stephanie Hyde is UK CEO and incoming CEO of markets advisory across Europe, the Middle East and Africa at JLL. Hyde joined the global real estate consultancy firm in 2021 following more than 25 years in professional services. Her responsibilities include driving strategy and results for JLL’s leasing advisory and property management businesses as well as delivering a connected approach for clients across the UK and EMEA regions. In 2022, Hyde was instrumental in implementing JLL’s Thrive programme in response to the realisation that career progression and retention was a challenge for ethnically underrepresented employees. The coaching programme focuses on engaging people approaching director or senior level, where representation tends to drop off. To date, 120 people have participated in Thrive, and 22% have moved roles internally. This programme was recognised by Bisnow as part of its Rise Initiative. JLL introduced a dedicated menopause policy in October 2022, recognising that an increasing number of people are working through and beyond perimenopause and menopause, and the company had a responsibility to provide practical and cultural support. Hyde helped champion the effort on World Menopause Day via a JLL-hosted webinar featuring a range of experts from across the industry. Since then, a monthly forum has arisen to discuss the topic and connect people to share experiences and provide support. Under Hyde’s leadership, JLL’s pay gaps in the UK have narrowed. The mean gender pay gap in 2022 was 18.9%, down from 20.5% in 2021 and 25.2% in 2017 when it first began reporting these figures in the UK. The mean ethnicity pay gap in 2022 was 14.3%, a reduction from 16.3% in 2021 and 2020 when JLL UK began reporting those numbers. She is also driving progress toward JLL UK gender and ethnicity targets set in 2021 to address opportunity imbalance. Outside of work, Hyde enjoys reading, swimming, spending time with her family and walking her two dogs.