PERE ESG & Impact Forum

Shamez Alibhai

Head of Community Housing and Managing Director, Man Group

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. Shamez Alibhai is Head of Community Housing and Managing Director 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. Head of Community Housing and Managing Director, Man GPM

Tim Barlow

Managing Director, CPP Investments

Tim is a Director in the real estate equity team at CPPIB. Tim joined the team eight years ago, and looks after origination and portfolio management across Continental Europe (ex. Germany and CEE) across all sectors including Data Centres. Prior experience at CPPIB concentrated on their UK and India real estate investment programme. Prior to CPPIB, Tim worked at Grosvenor both on their London Estate and Fund Management business (based in Paris). Tim hold a BSc (Hons) from Edinburgh University and a MSc is Real Estate Finance from the University of Reading. Tim is also a Member of the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors.

Simon Chisholm

Chief Investment Officer, Resonance

Simon is Resonance’s Chief Investment Officer. He joined Resonance 10 years ago to establish and build up its award-winning impact investment fund management business, building on Resonance's 20 year heritage in UK social enterprise. Resonance's impact property funds now manage c.£300m across its three themes of homelessness, learning disability and vulnerable women, and are attracting institutional investment. In addition, Resonance operates a number of more specialist impact investment funds supporting social enterprise through its Impact Labs.

Simon has over 25 years of investment experience and was previously at Rothschild & Co where he focused on advising on energy and infrastructure projects across Europe and Asia. He has first-hand experience of social enterprise having previously served as a Trustee for a pioneering London-based homelessness charity and for the Transformational Business Network, which focuses on impact investing in Africa and Asia.

Resonance

Resonance is an experienced impact property fund manager with a 20-year track record in impact investing. We create and manage award winning impact investment property funds with three distinct impact strategies: Homelessness, Learning Disability and Vulnerable Women, which aim to deliver financial return and a targeted social impact.

Since 2013, our impact property funds have raised £300+ million, providing over 1,000 safe, decent and affordable homes for over 2,600 individuals and families experiencing homelessness and living in inappropriate temporary accommodation across the UK. We work with leading housing and support provider partners to ensure tenants are supported to sustain tenancies and rebuild their lives.

Our impact property funds provide a unique and highly diversified residential property investment fund offering with portfolios around major UK cities.

We have an experienced team of over 50 across the UK with offices in Manchester, London, Launceston and Bristol. Resonance is an accredited BCorp and a social enterprise.

Abigail Dean

Global Head of Strategic Insights, Nuveen Real Estate

Abigail is the Global Head of Strategic Insights for Nuveen Real Estate. She is responsible for the organisation’s global research, sustainability, proptech and innovation functions. She oversees Nuveen Real Estate’s Tomorrow’s World Strategy which future proofs the investment strategy in light of global megatrends and integrates ESG across fund and asset management. Working alongside our Product Development team, Abigail is also responsible for ensuring that new product and the growth of the business are underpinned by solid research and sustainability considerations overseeing the global research team.

Since joining the firm in 2016, Abigail has overseen the organization setting a target to achieve Net Zero Carbon by 2040. Abigail is a member of Nuveen Real Estate’s Global Leadership Team and has spearheaded the integration of sustainability considerations into the investment process. She is also leading the organisation to develop investment guidelines related to physical and transition climate change risk. She previously worked at JLL, where she led on sustainability for the Property and Asset Management's U.K. team.

Abigail is passionate about driving sustainable change in the property sector and sits on several industry committees including the GRESB Standards Committee and the INREV ESG committee.

Basil Demeroutis

Managing Partner, FORE Partnership

Basil is Managing Partner of FORE Partnership, the purpose-driven real estate private equity firm that drives social and environmental innovation in the built environment using low carbon strategies, social impact, place making, and design. Prior to founding FORE, Basil was a partner at Capricorn Investment Group, the family office of Jeff Skoll (eBay), and was Managing Partner of a German property fund. He spent 13 years in investment banking in New York and London. Basil is Chair of the children’s charity, the Institute of Imagination, and sits on the board of trustees of the UK Green Building Council, the property industry’s largest membership organisation dedicated to sustainability. He graduated with a degree in Aerospace Engineering from Cornell University.

Peter Denton

Chief Executive Officer, Homes England

Peter Denton is the Chief Executive at Homes England.

Peter joined Homes England in August 2021. Prior to this, he was Group Finance Director and subsequently Chief Executive Officer of housing association The Hyde Group.

He has worked in a broad range of strategic leadership roles, amassing 28 years of pan-European real estate experience.

Before joining the housing sector, Peter spent his early career in investment banking and then moved to global real estate investment management firm Starwood Capital. During his investment career, Peter deployed over €25 billion of capital and had significant exposure to investors and fundraising on a global scale, working as a ‘bridge’ between the public, private and third sector.
In addition, Peter has held senior EMEA real estate investment banking roles at BNP Paribas, Barclays, Deutsche Bank, Eurohypo and WestImmo.

He is also a non-executive Real Estate Investment Committee member at global investment company Eurazeo.

Tzvete Doncheva

International Investor Relations Lead, Proptech1 Ventures

Tzvete Doncheva leads global investor relations at PropTech1 Ventures, one of Europe's first ESG-compliant venture capital firms, focused on real estate innovation. She overlooks fundraising activities in non-German markets and supported the fund in its 50M euro target first raise (oversubscribed final close). A cause she cares about is bridging the gender gap in institutional fund management and raise – as for more women founders to get funded, there must be more women starting and managing funds (network trickle-down effect). Tzvete is a non-exec trustee at Girls in Charge, an organisation seeking to equip girls with the skills to succeed in business and in life (through a gamified workshop exchange) and an advisor to The Entrepreneurs Network, one of UK's leading think tanks for the ambitious owners of Britain's fastest growing businesses and aspirational entrepreneurs.

Chandra Eastwell

Associate Director - Sustainability, MIRA

Chandra is responsible for analysing and monitoring ESG considerations, ESG integration, reporting and strategy. She sits within the MIRA Sustainability Team and has a global focus.
Chandra joined Macquarie in 2013 and has worked in ESG roles within MIRA and Macquarie Group’s Environmental and Social Risk team. Prior to working at Macquarie Chandra worked as a Climate Change and Sustainability Consultant at EY in Sydney and in environmental roles in government in Australia and the UK.
Academic qualifications include a Bachelor of Arts, Post graduate diploma in Environmental Management and a Masters of Environmental Science and Law.

Hala El Akl

Vice President of Sustainable Investing and Operations, Oxford Properties Group

Hala El Akl is Oxford’s Vice President of Sustainable Investing and Operations. Hala is the global leader of Oxford’s ESG program, and works collaboratively across functions such as Investment, Asset Management, Operations, Development, Finance and Investment Risk to implement the company’s holistic ESG strategy. Hala also is a member of the OMERS Sustainable Investing Committee and Climate Action Plan Implementation Team.

Prior to Oxford, Hala was a Director at PLP Architecture and a Founding Director of PLP Labs. As an architect and urbanist, she led teams to deliver highly sustainable and innovative commercial, life-science, residential, retail and mixed-use projects across the UK, Europe, the Middle East and Asia. At PLP Labs, she explored new ideas for future cities, with a focus on environmental and social sustainability. Hala currently serves on the Global Board of Directors of the Urban Land Institute, and on the Cambridge University Land Economy board.

She received her MSc in Urban Policy from the London School of Economics, a Masters in Territorial and Urban Strategies from the Institut d’Etudes Politiques de Paris (Sciences-Po), and both a Bachelor of Architecture and a
Bachelor of Social Sciences from the American University of Beirut, Lebanon.

Louise Ellison

Chief Commercial Officer, Longevity Partners

Louise Ellison was appointed as Longevity Partners’ global Chief Commercial Officer in 2021, where she leads the development of tailored programmes helping clients achieve their current and future ESG and climate goals. Louise is recognised as a leader in the world of sustainable real estate. She has many years’ experience in the industry and has served on a range of Boards and Committees, including eight years as Chair of the Better Buildings Partnership.

Longevity Partners

Longevity Partners is a multi-disciplinary energy and sustainability consultancy founded in 2015 to support businesses in the transition to a low carbon economy across the UK, Europe and worldwide. We provide strategic guidance, compliance support and innovative solutions to real assets businesses. Longevity Partners believes in long-term partnerships in order to drive the transition to a low carbon economy through the implementation of innovative tactics. We provide our clients with solutions to improve their competitiveness, grow revenues and better address the changing needs of their businesses.

Martin Gettings

Head of ESG Europe - Real Estate, Brookfield

Martin Gettings is a Vice President in Brookfield Asset Management, Property Group. In this role he provides accountability and oversight to ensure strategic and operational Environmental, Social and Governance performance of Brookfield real estate portfolio companies and their built assets across the European region.
Prior to joining Brookfield in 2021, Martin served as Director of Sustainability at one of Brookfield’s portfolio companies, Canary Wharf Group, where he was responsible for delivery of the Groups net zero carbon pathway and green bond framework. In 2011, Martin joined Canary Wharf Group from Balfour Beatty where he was UK Sustainability Manager.

A Chartered Environmentalist and Fellow of the Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment, with over 35 years’ experience in construction and property, Martin currently serves as Board Member of the built environment Supply Chain Sustainability School, as Chair of their Climate Action Group, also serving as Chair of the Constructors’ Livery Company Climate Action Committee, which was established in 2021 to support delivery of the City of London Climate Action Strategy.

Brookfield

Brookfield is a leading global alternative asset manager with approximately $700 billion of assets under management across real estate, infrastructure, renewable power and transition, private equity, and credit. Brookfield owns and operates long-life assets and businesses, many of which form the backbone of the global economy.

Brookfield is one of the world’s largest owners and operators of real estate with over $250 billion of real estate assets globally, and an office portfolio of approximately 200 million square feet worldwide. In Europe, Brookfield’s real estate business comprises approximately $50 billion of assets across office, student housing, logistics, life sciences, residential, retail and hospitality.

Daniel Hajjar

Managing Principal, HOK

As managing principal for HOK’s London and Dubai practices, Daniel leads the firm’s services for projects across Europe, the Middle East and North Africa. A member of HOK’s board of directors, Daniel is a registered architect with more than 30 years of experience covering all aspects of planning, design, architecture and project management. In 2000, he established HOK’s Dubai office and has served as vice chairman of the Emirates Green Building Council. With offices around the globe, HOK designs buildings and spaces that respond to the needs of people and the environment.

HOK advises clients across various sectors on how to deliver or reimagine developments to help improve occupier wellbeing as well as sustainability credentials. The firm was an early adopter of the International WELL Building Institute’s WELL Building Standard, a performance-based system for measuring, certifying and monitoring building features that can improve health and well-being, as asset owners increasingly target the premiums that healthy buildings offer.

Caroline Hill

Managing Director, Europe Real Estate ESG, Blackstone

Caroline Hill is a Managing Director and Head of ESG for Blackstone Real Estate in Europe. She is responsible for ensuring Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) factors are fully integrated across Blackstone’s European real estate portfolio. Her prior roles included the Head of Responsible Business for Lloyds Banking Group and the Director of Group Corporate Affairs and Sustainability at Landsec plc., developing one of the United Kingdom’s leading real estate sustainability programs and establishing Landsec’s net zero carbon strategy. She also held roles working on corporate responsibility and sustainability at PwC and Whitbread.

Blackstone

Blackstone is the world’s largest alternative asset manager. We seek to create positive economic impact and long-term value for our investors, the companies we invest in, and the communities in which we work. We do this by using extraordinary people and flexible capital to help companies solve problems. Our $881 billion in assets under management include investment vehicles focused on private equity, real estate, public debt and equity, infrastructure, life sciences, growth equity, opportunistic, non-investment grade credit, real assets and secondary funds, all on a global basis. Further information is available at www.blackstone.com. Follow @blackstone on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram.

Alexandra Ingram

Head of Sustainability, Capital Markets, EMEA, JLL

Ali Ingram took on the role as Head of Sustainability at JLL within EMEA capital markets team at the start of 2022. Within her new role, she is sector agnostic and is focused helping clients integrate ESG into processes to maximise value and liquidity.

Her main role is to embed ESG across JLL's Capital Markets business and ensuring that both environmental and social values are at the heart of client strategies.

Originally from Melbourne, Australia, Ms Ingram joined JLL's Asia Pacific capital markets team based out of Hong Kong in 2013 and has since worked in numerous locations including Shanghai, Tokyo and now Europe. Since joining the International Capital Markets Offices team in 2017, she has centred on the European Office and Life Sciences Market. Recent transactions include the acquisition Of Kadans Science partners on behalf Of AXA from Oaktree in 2020.

JLL

JLL is a global leading professional services firm with a vision to shape the future of real estate for a better world.

We have over 20 years of sustainability expertise in helping to tackle the climate and nature emergency, champion a just and equal society, and foster inclusion and wellbeing. We are also focused on driving sustainability throughout our business, including our own operations and in the core real estate advice we provide to our clients.

JLL can help you determine the best pathway to reduce your carbon footprint because we’re going through the experience ourselves. Last year, we achieved a major milestone when the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) formally approved the JLL net-zero 2040 target as “certified to Net-Zero Standard.

Charlie Jacques

Head of Sustainability and Impact Investment, Real Estate, Schroders Capital

Charlie Jacques is the Head of Sustainability and Impact Investment Real Estate at Schroders, based in London. She joined Schroders in 2000.
Previously, Charlie was Business Projects Manager for the Head of Property at Schroder Real Estate from 2000 to 2014.

Qualifications:

‒ BSc (Hons) Land Management University of Reading.
‒ Member of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors and holder of the Investment Management Certificate.

Shiraz Jiwa

CEO, The Valesco Group

Shiraz Jiwa has successfully closed and managed over €5 billion of European commercial real estate investments, delivering strong target-exceeding returns to sovereigns, institutions and family offices. Prior to founding Valesco, Mr. Jiwa was managing director and head of real estate investments at AGC Equity Partners, a sovereign backed alternative asset investment firm. He closed and managed numerous European real estate investments across core/core+, complex restructuring, development and special situations during his tenure. Previously, Mr. Jiwa was a partner and portfolio manager at the Rainbow Global High Yield Fund. His areas of focus were special situations, real estate, distressed debt and derivatives. Mr. Jiwa directed investment strategy and executed transactions across the capital structure. Prior to this, Mr. Jiwa was at Morgan Stanley where his expertise was utilised to develop, analyse, structure and execute portfolio optimisation and yield enhancement strategies and solutions. Mr. Jiwa executed several significant capital markets as well as securities division transactions. Mr. Jiwa started his career as part of the credit derivatives structuring and trading team at Bear Stearns. Mr. Jiwa has developed an expertise across all major asset classes, notably in real estate, real estate private equity, complex restructurings and special situations.

Dr Dorte Rich Joergensen

Associate Principal, Elementa Consulting

Dr Dorte Rich Jørgensen is an Associated Principal in Sustainability Consultancy within Elementa Consulting. Dorte co-directs the Elementa sustainability team and acts as sustainability leader on key projects. As a sustainability design manager, and chartered engineer of CIBSE, Dorte has a demonstrated track record in embedding sustainable solutions and delivering cutting-edge and award-winning projects like Cambridge Children Hospital, London 2012 Olympics, and Chiswick Park.

With a national profile, Dorte is an experienced collaborator influencing change, and working with, leading industry practitioners and businesses, academics and Universities, government representatives, professional institutions, and industry bodies. Dorte was sponsored by the Royal Academy of Engineering to act as a Visiting Professor of Innovation at Heriot Watt University in 2011-2015. She acted as Industry Director for the Royal Academy of Engineering Centre for Excellence in Sustainable Building Design in 203-2015. Dorte has multiple publications, both through the industry and the press, demonstrating national thoughtleadership and am a key-note speaker.

King, Vivienne PERE Europe 2024 CROPPED NEW

Vivienne King

Founder and Managing Director, Impactful Places

Vivienne King has over 30 years’ leadership experience in the real estate industry with a track record of advocating for environmental and social sustainability. Formerly head of real estate at social impact consultancy, The Good Economy and prior to that, CEO of Revo, the membership organisation for retail property, where she supported development of Revo’s Social Value Framework. Prior to 2020, she was CEO of Soho Housing Association providing affordable homes and supporting local needs in London’s West End. With over 20 years at the Crown Estate, as a member of the senior team she was responsible for leadership of its ESG corporate strategy and its innovative measurement tool – Total Contribution. A campaigner for high street and town centre renewal as chair of the Shopkeepers’ Campaign and for real estate industry EDI as a co-founder of Real Estate Balance, working with industry leaders to drive change in real estate.

Ruth Knox

Partner, Corporate Department, Paul Hastings

Ruth Knox is Global Co-Chair of the ESG ＆ Sustainable Finance practice at Paul Hastings. Ms. Knox advises some of the world’s most sophisticated private equity firms, corporations, and project sponsors and lenders on complex and evolving legal issues relating to ESG and climate-related regulatory requirements, investor demands, strategic opportunities (including transition strategies), and voluntary reporting frameworks and coalitions.

Ms. Knox’s practice focuses on counseling clients on the management, mitigation, and maximization of ESG risks and opportunities, respectively. She has spent more than a decade advising on ESG regulations and soft law standards, including the EU Sustainable Finance package, the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive, and the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosure (TCFD) standard. She provides commercial, solutions-oriented advice in sustainable fund formation, large scale international M＆A, sustainable finance transactions, and ESG-related corporate crises of an international profile, and she has meaningful experience in climate and nature-based finance.

Paul Hastings

With widely recognized elite teams in finance, mergers ＆ acquisitions, private equity, restructuring and special situations, litigation, employment, and real estate, Paul Hastings is a premier law firm providing intellectual capital and superior execution globally to the world’s leading investment banks, asset managers, and corporations.

We help our clients reimagine what’s possible — and navigate new paths to growth

We partner with our clients to understand their business and the challenges ahead of them. In the face of transformative change, we help them reimagine what’s possible — and move forward.

Leading our clients to success

We are focused on the issues our clients care about, and help them find new ways to drive innovation, create value, and manage risk. We spend time with our clients to truly understand their business goals, and the services they need to move forward.

Longstanding commitment to diversity

We have a longstanding commitment to making a difference by actively supporting the advancement of equality, justice, and sustainability within our organization and the communities we serve.

Ding Li

Senior Strategy Consultant & Business Unit Lead, Longevity Partners

Ding Li leads Longevity Partners' Strategy service across the group. She and her team advise on ESG strategies and implementation, science-based net-zero roadmaps and social value across the property landscape.

With eight years of experience in the ESG field, Ding works across Europe, America and the Asia Pacific region. She marries her knowledge in strategic planning and experience working in rating agencies and engineering firms to develop ESG strategies that are ambitious and practical. To date, Lonevity Partners developed ESG Strategies and provided ongoing ESG management support for over 40 companies and funds across 25 countries.

Accoladed by GreenBiz within its 2018 class of 30 under 30, Ding is a Social Return On Investment (SROI) Accredited Practitioner and holds a Master's degree in Environmental Engineering and Management.

Longevity Partners

Longevity Partners is a multi-disciplinary energy and sustainability consultancy founded in 2015 to support businesses in the transition to a low carbon economy across the UK, Europe and worldwide. We provide strategic guidance, compliance support and innovative solutions to real assets businesses. Longevity Partners believes in long-term partnerships in order to drive the transition to a low carbon economy through the implementation of innovative tactics. We provide our clients with solutions to improve their competitiveness, grow revenues and better address the changing needs of their businesses.

Maggie Loo

Partner, Bridges Fund Management

Maggie looks after client relationships for our platform of funds and has been involved with or led the raising of the firm’s eight most recent funds, spanning private equity, property and social outcomes contracts. These have included successive funds in existing strategies as well as the development of new strategies to the Bridges platform.

Before her current role in Client & Strategy Development, Maggie spent her first five years as a member of the investment team of the Bridges Sustainable Growth Funds and worked on a number of investments in the Sustainable Living theme, including the successful exit of Whelan Refining.

Prior to joining Bridges, Maggie worked at London-based Climate Change Capital, a specialist merchant bank in the environmental markets. She started her career as a strategy management consultant with McKinsey & Co in New York City. Maggie studied environmental science and public policy at Harvard University and has an MBA from Columbia Business School.

Maggie has served as a member of the British Venture Capital & Private Equity Association Advisory Group on Impact Investment, the Financing a Just Transition Alliance, the Working Group on Place-based Impact Investing, and the Working Group on Re-visioning Social Investment as part of the UK National Advisory Board on Impact Investing. She is a frequent speaker on the topics of sustainable and impact investment and the private markets industry.

Bridges Fund Management

Bridges was founded in 2002 by Sir Ronald Cohen, Michele Giddens and Philip Newborough – driven by a shared belief that business and investment could play a vital role in tackling some of our most pressing social and environmental challenges. Through careful analysis of the trends shaping our future, we have spent the last 17 years identifying investment solutions that can help to make our economy more inclusive and more sustainable – and by doing so, unlock lasting economic value. Over time, we believe this will attract more private capital into investments that benefit people and the planet.

Whitney Lutgen

Partner, MJ Hudson

Whitney Lutgen is a Partner and Co-Head of the Private Funds Practice in the law division at MJ Hudson. She primarily advises fund sponsors in connection with the establishment, structuring and operation of private investment funds across all alternative investment strategies. Whitney further advises institutional investors making primary, secondary and co-investments. She works closely with MJ Hudson’s ESG and Sustainability Services to help sponsors navigate ESG regulation. Whitney was named to Private Equity International’s Future 40 List in 2021. She is one of only 6 lawyers on the list. Prior to MJ Hudson, Whitney worked in the investment funds group at Kirkland & Ellis in both New York and London. Whitney also worked as in-house counsel at Partners Group in their New York office. Whitney earned her BA in art history (magna cum laude) from Colgate University and her JD from the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law.

MJ Hudson

MJ Hudson (AIM:MJH) is the end-to-end solutions provider to the asset management industry, specialising in private markets and alternative investments. The firm helps fund managers and investors run more smoothly and perform at their best, through an integrated suite of advisory, outsourcing and analytical services, supported by a range of sophisticated digital tools.

MJ Hudson’s team of more than 300 lawyers, fund accountants, ESG consultants, developers and other professionals, serves more than 1,000 clients, across the globe, including some of the industry’s largest players.

Founded in 2010, by CEO Matthew Hudson (a private markets lawyer and former fund manager), MJ Hudson was admitted to the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange in 2019.

Vlad Masinsky

Head Of Strategic Partnerships, Sharry

Vlad has a great passion for real estate innovations, currently focusing on implementing digital overlays delivering ESG goals for Commercial Real Estate,creating new kinds of user experience, and enhancing asset performance. Combining tech, and business, lead me through many innovative projects globally, SL Green Realty Corp. NYC USA, Canary Wharf Group London UK, HB Reavis HQ, Europe implementing tech and innovative solutions on portfolio level.

Sharry

Sharry is a smart access platform for Commercial buildings globally. Our solution combines smart access (including mobile access, dynamic parking, and elevator control) with a visitor management system and tenant engagement features to provide the best-in-class building experience for the tenants. Sharry simplifies administration for managers and helps retain current tenants and attract new ones. The touch-free solution, flexible operation tools, and building data insights gain a new significance in the Post-COVID property design and hybrid work style enabling landlords and tenants to communicate and achieve the ESG standards.
www.sharry.tech

Toby Mitchenall

Senior Editor, ESG and Sustainability, New Private Markets

Toby Mitchenall is Senior Editor, ESG and Sustainability at PEI. He is the editor of New Private Markets, a new publication serving sustainable investors in private markets, from ESG to impact. Toby was previously responsible for PEI’s private equity coverage and is a regular contributor to its various publications. He was formerly a consultant advising private equity firms on marketing and public relations.

Aleksandra Njagulj

Managing Director, Global Head of ESG, Real Estate, DWS Group

Aleksandra (Sasha) Njagulj is the Managing Director, Global Head of ESG (environmental, social, and governance), Real Estate at DWS group. She is responsible for ESG integration across global real estate portfolios. Sasha is an accomplished ESG expert with over 20 years of practical experience in architectural design, design management and the sustainable built environment. In her previous role with CBRE Global Investors, she was Global Head of ESG with overall responsibility for developing and communicating global sustainability priorities and strategies across all business lines. Prior to this, Sasha was head of the Sustainability, R&D and Innovation department at Bouygues U.K.
Throughout her career, Sasha has built a reputation both professionally and personally for championing the cause of responsible real estate investment. She received the UK-based edie 2020 Sustainability Leaders Award for Investor of the Year for an ESG programme she designed and delivered for CBRE. In addition, Sasha was awarded the global 2020 GRESB/BREEAM Individual Leadership Award, recognising strong leadership and commitment in the field of sustainable development. In 2021, she won the global Future Proof Real Estate Woman award as a leader in applying digitalisation, technology, open innovation and sustainability to create a better built environment.
A qualified architect, Sasha holds a Master's degree in Architectural Design from the University of Belgrade; a Master's degree in Sustainability Leadership from the University of Cambridge. She is a BRE Academy fellow, sits on the INREV ESG Committee and ULI ESG Council, leads the IIGCC Real Estate Workstream and chairs the GRESB Foundation Real Estate Standards Committee.

Anna Olink

Business Development Director, EMEA, GRESB

Bringing 15 years of work experience, Anna joined GRESB from Kempen Capital Management, where she was a portfolio manager of the global real estate fund, and where she lead the implementation of ESG standards in the real estate investment process. Prior to Kempen, she spent almost 8 years at BNP Paribas as a fund manager in the global real estate fund, and a credit analyst. Anna holds MSc degree in Real Estate Investments from the University of Lodz, and MSc degree in development studies from the University of Edinburgh. She is passionate about finding solutions to poverty, inequality and underinvestment in low-income countries, and aspires to create demonstrable impact to fight climate change.

GRESB

GRESB is a mission driven and investor led organization providing standardized and validated Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) data to the capital markets. Established in 2009, GRESB has become the leading ESG benchmark for real estate and infrastructure investments across the world.
The 2021 real estate benchmark covers more than 1,500 property companies, real estate investment trusts (REITs), funds, and developers. Our coverage for infrastructure includes more than 700 infrastructure funds and assets. Combined, GRESB represents US $5.7 trillion in real asset value.
The reported ESG data is used by more than 130 institutional and financial investors to monitor investments across portfolios and understand the opportunities, risks and choices that need to be made as the industry transitions to a more sustainable future.

Pooja Patel

Managing Director, StepStone Group

Ms. Patel is a member of the real estate team. She is also involved in the Firm’s responsible investing initiative.

Prior to StepStone, Ms. Patel worked in the Corporate Development Group at AT&T where she was involved in strategic projects, including acquisitions and divestitures, across the company’s business lines. Previously, Ms. Patel spent three years working in investment banking at Houlihan Lokey where she helped execute M&A, financing and restructuring engagements for clients in real estate and a number of different industries.

Ms. Patel received an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BS in Economics with concentrations in finance and real estate from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

Jose Pellicer

Head of Investment Strategy, M&G Real Estate

Jose Pellicer works for M&G real estate as Head of Strategy. In this role he coordinates the top down strategy of the different M&G real estate funds and mandates. He is also chairman of the investment committee.

Jose is an economist by background and is a passionate believer in the role of economic research and data analytics in real estate investment performance.

Jose was previously Head of Research at Patrizia Immobilien and before that, of Rockspring PIM (now part of Patrizia), where he was promoted to partner in 2015.

Jose started his career as a general economist at Deutsche Bank, moving into the real estate function in 2002. He has also worked for Goldman Sachs and AEW Europe.

Jose read economics at the Universidad Carlos III in Madrid, and holds a bilingual Masters in Economics in Louvain, Belgium. He also has a Masters in Real Estate investment from Cass Business school.

M&G Investments

M&G Investments is a global asset manager with a long history investing and innovating across both public and private markets. We’re part of M&G plc, an international savings and investment business with the ambition to deliver long term value for our investors, while working together to create a more positive future. As an active manager we build solutions around what matters most to our clients whether it be investing for growth or income, to meet future liabilities, protect capital or invest responsibly. Together, through a strong sense of partnership and collaboration, we support a culture of continued innovation to build long-term relationships as needs evolve over time. We offer access to a broad range of capabilities that span both public and private assets including fixed income, equities, multi-asset, real estate, infrastructure and private equity. Globally we manage over £324.5 billion (as at 31 December 2021) on behalf of individual and institutional investors including pension funds, endowments and foundations, insurers, sovereign wealth funds, banks and family offices. We recognise that clients are increasingly looking to align their investments with their environmental and social values. This is why our investment decisions are underpinned by our commitment to investing responsibly. Considering material environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors is an integral part of our investment approach. Combining market-leading research with our own proprietary data, we believe this helps us make more informed investment decisions. We also pro-actively engage directly with the businesses we invest in to help drive positive change. M&G has committed to reducing our own carbon emissions to net-zero by 2030 and to achieving carbon net-zero investment portfolios by 2050.

Catherine Raynsford

Director, Hyde Group

Director of Stakeholder and Investor Relations, responsible for Hyde's strategy to engage with private capital, leading a team to identify, develop and enhance long-term partnerships with a broad mix of partners including housebuilders, developers, and institutional investors.

Catherine has worked in residential development for over 15 years. Prior to joining Hyde she spent 9 years at JLL, specialising in public private partnerships, and working with public sector landowners to bring forward major development and regeneration projects.

Adam Shah

Sr. Managing Director, Real Estate, Blackstone

Adam Shah is the Head of Real Estate Asset Management Europe. Before joining Blackstone, Mr. Shah was a Managing Director and Chief Operating Officer of Europe at Starwood Capital Group, where he most recently led asset management activities across Europe and was a member of the European Investment Committee. Mr. Shah received both a BSc. with honours and a MSc. in Engineering from Queen’s University at Kingston, Canada and an MBA from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College.

Snehal Shah

Reporter, New Private Markets, PEI Media

Snehal Shah is a reporter for New Private Markets, PEI Media’s sustainability-focused publication. She covers ESG, sustainability and impact investments including investors’ allocations and policies; managers’ investment strategies and ESG and diversity credentials; new regulatory measures; and ways to measure, report and compare sustainability issues and initiatives.

Snehal joined PEI in March 2021 and is based in PEI's London office. Snehal has written a book, Unhealthy Boundaries (out later this year), exploring the stories of UK residents shunning the NHS in favour of alternative medicine. She previously worked in social care for University of Bristol students. Snehal volunteers with a children’s charity providing weekly social and cultural activities and language classes. She is also interested in history and archaeology.

Anna Shiel

Head of Origination, Big Society Capital

Anna joined Big Society Capital in 2012, where she is a member of the Investment Committee and Executive Committee and leads the investment team. Over the past 10 years, she has helped shape BSC’s strategy and make investments which have grown the UK social impact investment market 8-fold to over £6bn. Within this, she led on developing a number of segments of this market including social property funds, blended finance, place-based investment and community finance.

She is now responsible for Big Society Capital's strategies in social and affordable housing, aiming to build an investment system that helps create more safe, secure and affordable homes, and social lending, seeking to create a market which meets the needs of both social purpose enterprises and investors.

Derk Welling

Senior Portfolio Manager Responsible Investment, APG Asset Management

Derk Welling is Senior Portfolio Manager Responsible Investment and member of the Global MT Real Estate at APG Asset Management. In this role he is responsible for ESG integration in the global real estate investments. He is a member of the CRREM Steering Committee and Investor Committee, PRI Real Estate Advisory Committee and the SBTi Expert Advisory Group. Until January 2021 also a member of the INREV ESG Committee. He was the initiator and co-founder of the Dutch Green Building Council, aiming to adapt BREEAM to the Netherlands.

Before joining APG Asset Management Derk served for 10 years as Head of Sustainability at REDEVCO, a private retail real estate investment manager. He was member and co-chair of the ICSC Sustainability committee in Europe. He also worked for a large Dutch international construction firm, where he set up the corporate purchasing department and was a consultant with PwC, focusing on procurement in construction.

Derk studied Civil Engineering at the Delft University of Technology and holds a PhD in Management Science from the University of Groningen. In 2014 he completed the Oxford Impact Investing program, as well as the Impact Investing program at the Duisenberg School of Finance. He participated in various leadership development programs at IMD Lausanne and holds a MSc in investment management (RBA / CEFA) from the VU University Amsterdam.

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