The Rise Initiative UK
Elevating Diversity Within CRE

Esmeé Vermolen is board director and Head of Technology and Innovation for global executive search firm Granger Reis (GR). Rotterdam-based Esmeé has been pivotal in creating systems moving away from outdated exec search models. Her focus is advancing the company’s technology journey to drive diversity, inclusion and sustainability in the executive search market, while improving insight into market behaviours and requirements. Esmeé joined GR from Heidrick & Struggles where she where she was the associate to the Global Head of Smart Infrastructure & Cities. Prior to this she had a 10-year career in fashion. She is also a maths graduate with specialism in statistics, financial estimation and risk analysis.

Ade is a highly committed and strategic People specialist with vast experience and a proven track record in the Human Resources space, spanning different cultures and industries (Utilities, Technology, Defense and Real Estate); he is a Chartered Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) with nearly 30 years’ experience in HR. In his spare time, he is a School Governor at two schools in the London Borough of Lewisham, and a Trustee for a charity that supports children and young adults with learning and severe learning disabilities, by empowering them to live their lives their way. He is also a Fellow of the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA).

Jon Zehner is Vice Chairman of LaSalle with a primary focus of maintaining strong client relationships, particularly for clients of LaSalle Global Solutions, and on originating investment opportunities for LaSalle Global Solutions mandates and funds. Prior to becoming Vice Chairman, Jon was Head of LaSalle’s Global Partner Solutions business. He is a member of LaSalle’s Global Management Committee. ​ Jon joined LaSalle in 2012 as Global Head of the Client Capital Group and was responsible for leading LaSalle’s global activities relating to clients, capital raising, new product development and large-scale, cross-border strategic investments. He assumed responsibility for LaSalle’s Global Partner Solutions business at the end of 2019 and headed the business until it merged with LaSalle’s Securities business, to form LaSalle Global Solutions, in March 2023. Jon’s career in Real Estate began in 1981 at JPMorgan where, during his 28 years, he held several senior positions including Global Head of Real Estate Investment Banking and Head of sub-Saharan Africa. ​In 2009, Jon left JPMorgan and joined AREA Property Partners as a Senior Director. Jon is Chair of the University of Cambridge’s Land Economy Advisory Board, is a Trustee of the Urban Land Institute where he served as a recent European Chair and past Member of the Board of Directors. Previous industry activities include founding and serving on the Executive Board of the European Public Real Estate Association and serving on the British Property Federation’s Policy Committee. In addition, Jon is a member of the Board of Governors of Arnold House School in St. John’s Wood, London and is the Chair of the UK Board of African Parks. Jon holds an MBA from Harvard and an AB in Economics from Dartmouth.

Gurtake Singh is a Design Director and Principal at Gensler known for being passionate about design, delivery, and client relations with an infectious enthusiasm that rubs off on those he works with. An experienced designer, he has worked with some of the world’s leading Consumer Goods, Financial Services, and Technology brands. Gurtake prides himself on balancing highly creative and innovative design solutions with an understanding of the local context, as well as his clients’ vision, values, and business strategies. A people-first leader, Gurtake is impassioned about new talent and focuses on inspiring the next generation to push the boundaries of design and innovation. Gurtake holds a First Class Bachelor of Interior Design from Kingston University, London, U.K.

Cherine Aboulzelof currently heads the European business for BGO’s real estate multi manager (“BGO Strategic Capital Partners”) business and is based in London. Through its dedicated Secondaries and Co-Investment programmes, SCP provides equity solutions to real estate managers via recapitalisations and growth equity. SCP also works with LPs in providing liquidity solutions for their portfolios. With 15 years of direct real estate investment experience as a GP before joining BGO SCP, Cherine is responsible for the European strategy and for sourcing and executing investment opportunities across sectors and geographies. She sits on SCP’s global investment committee. Cherine started her career in investment banking with JP Morgan and Morgan Stanley, is an alumni of EM Lyon and holds an MBA from INSEAD. She speaks French, Arabic, English, Spanish and Italian.

My day job is to look after the real estate debt team at Aviva Investors which originates and executes loan transactions for a wide range of clients. Before joining Aviva Investors in 2015 I worked in both investment banking and corporate banking roles at Barclays before which I worked in a start-up consulting and data firm. I’ve been involved in corporate and industry wide inclusion initiatives for many years and seen significant progress since I joined the industry. While I am delighted to see that inclusion is now a topic which many firms are focusing on, ultimately it is change we are trying to achieve and not just intention. This is why I am excited to learn from the experience of the best programmes in the industry.

Ian graduated from the University of Cambridge in 1981 with a degree in Land Economy. Ian was in the banking industry for over 32 years having previously worked for Bank of America, UBS, NatWest and Bankers Trust/Deutsche, always focusing on the real estate industry. Ian joined Credit Suisse First Boston in 1999 to establish the Real Estate Group, and became Managing Director and Chairman of the European Real Estate Investment Banking. Ian is a member of Redevco’s Advisory Board, the Senior Independent Director for Shurgard Self Storage, and a Non Executive Director for Town Centre Securities Plc. He is a Senior Adviser to both Eastdil Secured and Anschutz Entertainment Group. He is the Immediate Past President of the Cambridge University Land Society and a Senior Advisor to two new Businesses, Work Life and Elysian Residences. He is a Trustee of the Saracens Multi Academy Trust. He chaired the Princes Regeneration Trust for 11 years and was a Trustee of the Princes Foundation. Ian is a former Crown Estate Commissioner, former Senior Independent Director of Secure Income REIT,a past President of the British Property Federation, past Chairman of the Investment Property Forum, a Fellow of the RICS and for 10 years chaired the Bank of England Commercial Property Forum. Ian was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in HM Queen’s 2020 Birthday Honours List.

Liz is a well-known figure in the property industry, having served as Chief Executive of the British Property Federation for thirteen years until her retirement at the end of 2014. During that time, she managed to change the Government’s perception of the commercial property industry, to establish it as a key voice in policy debate, to dissuade the Government from legislating on commercial leases, to win innumerable changes to planning and tax legislation and, working as part of a pan-industry alliance, to persuade the Government to introduce real estate investment trusts (REITs). Previously, she was a civil servant in the MOD, eventually becoming a key player in the team that created QinetiQ plc. Liz is now embarking on a portfolio career with a range of non-executive, advisory and charity roles, including at Morgan Sindall plc, Redrow plc, Howarde de Walden Estates, Holtby Turner, Arcadis, Peabody and the Churches Conservation Trust, and the Architectural Heritage Fund. She is the chairman of LandAid, the property industry’s principal charity. She is also chairing the shadow board for the Curzon Urban Regeneration Company in Birmingham and has recently been appointed to chair the embryonic organisation that is being set up under the Government’s New Property Model initiative to asset-manage departmental property portfolios. At Centre for London, Liz is Chair of Trustees, and helps to ensure that we meet our charitable objectives.

Hanna recently founded Mood and Space, a development company that supports clients in embedding social value in their development vision and strategy as well as efficiently managing the processes to deliver community focused buildings and urban neighbourhoods. Prior to founding Mood and Space, Hanna Afolabi BA (Hons) MSc MRICS was a Development Director for Balfour Beatty Investments seconded into East Wick and Sweetwater Ltd, a joint venture with Places for People. She led on the feasibility, business planning, budget, design, programming and planning of the mixed-use regeneration project of c. 1900 homes on the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. As a planning and development surveyor and a qualified Part I Architect, she is passionate about the built environment and ensuring that people come first in any development process. She has first hand experience of living on a council estate in Haggerston and the disenfranchisement that occurs when people feel that development is done ‘to’ them instead of for them. Growing up in a diverse environment and going to school there means she understands the value of community. Additionally, Hanna founded Black Women in Real Estate (BWRE) in 2019. BWRE is an organisation that aims to bring together black women in property, creating opportunities for upcoming talent and organising workshops for those already in the industry. She is also Vice Chair of the University of Greenwich’s Construction, Property and Surveying Practices Industry Advisory Board and is on Estates Gazette's Diversity & Inclusion Content Advisory Panel, advocating for diverse representation in property.

Rebeca Guzman Vidal is the Group Head of Retail at Chelsfield, where she works on retail strategy across a global portfolio that spans gateway cities including London, Paris, New York and Hong Kong. Chelsfield is an international investor and developer currently redeveloping one acre of the three and a half acre, retail focused Knightsbridge Estate. Rebeca is heavily involved in bringing new retailers to the development and leveraging relationships that crossover into the Paris and New York portfolios too. In Paris, she is working on projects on Avenue Montaigne that will significantly change the retail landscape of the Triangle d’Or. In 2019, she will be spending more time in New York working on the retail strategy for the redevelopment of 550 Madison Avenue, a Philip Johnson-designed tower with a stunning new garden that will redefine Midtown. Prior to joining Chelsfield, Rebeca worked at CBRE where she was part of the London retail advisory team working for some of London’s major landlords including Grosvenor, The Crown Estate, Cadogan Estate and GPE. She specialised in luxury assets and worked on a number of high-profile placemaking schemes including Regent Street, Sloane Street and Mount Street.. She started her career in the Barcelona office and subsequently moved to London and later Hong Kong. In her free time, Rebeca enjoys travelling and is a real foodie so will travel for food – a neat combination. She is an architecture geek and will often be found on weekend breaks getting lost in a new city admiring its architecture. She is also a gym enthusiast and can be seen at Barry’s or her favourite gym pretty much every day.

Naqash Tahir is an executive director at PGIM Real Estate, on the global CIO team. Based in London he supports efforts to continually evolve investment practices by exploring new technologies that are intended to leverage proprietary data and artificial intelligence to better inform investment decisions and improve processes. He also seeks to establish partnerships with third-party technology platforms and universities to develop solutions that can be leveraged across PGIM Real Estate. Previously, Naqash served as Head of Systems for Europe and led various technology initiatives in Asia Pacific. Naqash has been a significant contributor to the PropTech program in Europe and is a member of AREF's Technology working group and serves on INREV’s Technology committee. He is also a PropTech advisor and mentor, representing and speaking at technology events around Europe. Naqash began his career fifteen years ago developing solutions primarily for Real Estate. Naqash has a bachelor’s degree in mathematics and computer science and is currently pursuing his MBA through Cranfield University. Naqash is also the founder and chairman for ReimTech, which is a forum for the Real Estate Investment Management Technology peers across Europe.

Ally Reid is an Investment Manager at Landsec responsible for the retail portfolio of Outlets, Shopping Centres and Retail Parks. I am responsible for creating and delivering strategic business cases which enhance or protect the Landsec Portfolio. These can include, acquisition and disposal, redevelopment and change of use applied to considerations such as the implementation of the Net Zero Carbon Strategy, entry into new markets and capital markets insights. She joined Landsec in 2017, from JLL where she was responsible for providing valuation and investment advice to portfolio clients both institutional and banking sector across EMEA related to mixed use town centre developments, shopping centres, and alternative asset classes such as renewable energy, and retirement villages. She has 15 years of experience in the property sector, is a member of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) practicing as a Chartered Commercial Property surveyor and Registered Valuer. She is also a member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (CIARB) as an International Arbitrator. Ally is an advocate for reducing the barriers to entry within the real estate sector to create a more diverse and inclusive industry to work in. She provides thought leadership, through speaking to organisations on implementation of DE&I Strategy and Cultural change. Her experience in this space includes leading the DE&I strategy at Landsec as chair of its ethnic minority network Diaspora from 2020 -2022 where she continues as a member of the committee. She is currently a committee member of Black Women In Real Estate (BWRE) an organisation committed to connecting and creating opportunities for its members and works with the RICS working groups on ethnicity and on gender.

Sasha Covington is COO and Head of Diversity & Inclusion for JLL’s UK Valuation Advisory team. Sasha has more than 35 years’ experience in the Real Estate industry having commenced her career at JLL as a team secretary before moving into an operational role in 2003. Prior to JLL, Sasha held a position at a small building surveying practice before joining Lambert Smith Hampton as their Office Manager in 1996. “Sasha is really leading the charge when it comes to creating awareness of the challenges faced by individuals from diverse backgrounds in the wider Real Estate industry and she is crucially taking action by implementing policies that ensure JLL hire and promote from a diverse range of backgrounds.” Marcus Ginnn, Edozo Key Experience Sasha formed the JLL Apprentice Scheme in 2016 and has since been shortlisted for Diversity Champion of the Year by Forward Ladies and forms part of CRECF’s DE&I steering group. During her time at JLL, Sasha has been involved in many extracurricular initiatives which have included: JLL’s charity partnerships, gender balance initiatives, Race for Change Reserve Mentoring scheme and industry wide “Changing the Face of Property’ initiatives. Sasha has recently been shortlisted for Burberry’s “UK Diversity Champion on the Year”. Award Sasha has been listed as Women in UK Real Estate who are dominating in 2022.

Zoe is Industry Director for Barclays Real Estate; the team of 100+ bankers supports clients in commercial and residential investment and development markets. Zoe has over 20 years’ experience in the banking industry, working in her current team since 2018. She joined Barclays in 2010 providing debt financing solutions across a range of sectors. Prior to Barclays, Zoe worked at KPMG in Corporate Finance and Macquarie Capital in Debt Advisory. Zoe is passionate about ESG, in particular supporting clients in their transition journey to net zero and works with industry organisations to drive greater inclusion within Real Estate across a multitude of agendas, including social mobility which has such intersectionality across the DEI landscape. Zoe is a full-time working parent with three young children.

Sanjeev is Chief Property Portfolio Officer at M&G Real Estate Ltd and has held various roles including HR Director and COO. Sanjeev has global responsibilities for day to day operations of the £37bn AUM. Sanjeev was on the Real Estate Board between 2001-2022 and is on the Executive Committee. Sanjeev is a trustee of the Prudential Staff Charitable Trust. Sanjeev was a Non-Executive director of Urban & Civic Plc from 9th May 2019 until January 2021. Since October 2021 Sanjeev has been a NED of Derwent London Plc. Since January 2021 Sanjeev has been an Independent member of the Estates Strategy Committee of King’s College University London. Sanjeev has had an active involvement in D&I, particularly issues concerning culture and race going back to his role as Head of HR NatWest Life in Bristol where he was involved in the Business in the Community Initiative – Race for Opportunity – which focused on improving and advancing BAME representation within “UK PLC”. Sanjeev contributed to the first Cultural Guide for Avon and Somerset constabulary and was a member of a government advisory committee on Race Education And Employment Forum. Sanjeev is on the Board of Real Estate Balance – an organisation of Senior Real Estate professionals seeking to address gender imbalance in senior positions in the Sector. Sanjeev is on the Property Week D&I Editorial Advisory Panel. Sanjeev is the Executive sponsor for M&G’s Mind Matters Network. Sanjeev was a sponsor of M&G Group’s Cultural Awareness Network (EMBRACE), an “Ally” of the M&G’s LGBT Network (PRIDE) and is a member of the M&G Investments D&I steerco. Sanjeev was instrumental in M&G Real Estate becoming the first real estate business to be accredited with the National Equality Standard in August 2017. Sanjeev was M&G Plc’s first ever Inclusion Champion – in 2020. For over 18 years Sanjeev had been chair of the People in Property (PIP) group of HRDs in the Real Estate sector focussed on issues of strategic importance to the real estate sector. Latterly the group focussed on D&I initiatives for the real estate sector such as Gender & Ethnicity Pay Gap reporting, etc. Sanjeev was a member of the National Mentoring Consortium (NMC) for over 15 years. The aim of the organisation is to promote equality and diversity in graduate recruitment and enhance employability of Black, Asia and Minority Ethnic (BAME) students, as well as students with a disability or dyslexia. Sanjeev has been on the EMPower 100 Ethnic Minority Executives List.

Nassar has in excess of 25 years of experience in real estate finance, structured finance and real estate investment. During this time he has established a number of successful real estate debt platforms (both principal and advisory). Nassar founded Brookland in 2009, a multi-award winning real estate investment banking firm, active across a broad range of real estate debt sectors and products including debt arranging, restructurings/workouts and sales and investment advisory. He previously worked at Merrill Lynch where he was a Managing Director responsible for a number of real estate finance product areas. Prior to his career in investment banking he was a solicitor and practiced at Clifford Chance for several years. Nassar is Chair-Elect of CREFC-Europe and is a member of its Board of Directors. Last year he assisted CREFC to establish its first DE&I Committee and continues to act as a member of this Committee. He has a particular interest in equal opportunities to those from lower socio-economic backgrounds. He has been involved in industry consultations with bodies such as the Bank of England and the European Banking Authority and has contributed chapters and articles for publication.