Franҫois Trausch is the global Chief Executive Officer of Allianz Real Estate. He joined the company in 2016 and chairs the Executive Committee. He is a Voting Member on both the Equity and Debt Investment Committees.

François has over 25 years of experience in the Finance and Real Estate sector and was previously CEO of Asia Pacific for GE Capital Real Estate International, also serving as President & CEO for GE Capital Real Estate Japan. Before that, François worked as Development Manager for Tishman Speyer Properties in New York and Berlin, and Associate Fixed Income at Goldman Sachs Group in London.

François has built a strong reputation in the market and is a thought leader in the industry. He is a regular contributor to real estate media and an engaged moderator and panellist at industry events. He is an ULI Global Trustee and member of the ULI Global Board.

François is a graduate of ESCP in Paris and holds an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Alberto Agazzi is the Head of Global Fund Management of Generali Real Estate since November 2017. In his current role, he is in charge of setting up and managing cross-border and local GRE funds, defining their asset allocation and selections, and managing the transaction and portfolio management activities for the indirect fund investments.

Alberto, who is also the Chief Executive Officer and General Manager of Generali Real Estate SGR S.p.A., joined the Generali Group in 2005 as an asset and fund manager for the Group's Italian real estate portfolio. In 2009 he became Head of Fund Management for Generali Immobiliare Italia SGR, before taking over as the Managing Director of Generali Real Estate – RE Services Italy four years later. Prior to joining the Group, he had worked in the real estate advisory team of Mediobanca, and as a project manager for an engineering company.

Alberto Agazzi holds a Master in Business Administration from SDA Bocconi and a Degree in Building Engineering from the Politecnico of Milan.

Andrea co-founded Elevation Advisors in 2017. Prior to Elevation, he set up and headed HCP, Inc’s (the U.S. listed healthcare REIT) European office based in London.

Before this, Andrea was a senior member of Goldman Sachs’ Leveraged Finance Group, based in London, where he spent 12 years providing capital to many of the firm’s largest and most important healthcare relationships across the corporate and private equity world across Europe and MENA. During his time at Goldman Sachs, Andrea developed a broad range of skills in the field of financing, portfolio management and restructuring with a specific focus on healthcare financing. He holds an M.Sc., summa cum laude, from L. Bocconi University.

Elevation is the institutional gateway to healthcare real estate investing in the U.K.. Set up in 2017, Elevation has to date invested £200 million in care home real estate with a mission to invest over £1 billion of capital in the sector. Elevation focuses on establishing long term growth focused partnerships with high quality operators and providing capital by way of sale and leaseback and development financing.

Ben Bannatyne is president of Prologis Europe and chairman of the company’s European Management Executive Committee. He is responsible for Europe’s leading logistics real estate platform, which comprises 16.3 million square meters across 12 countries, as of 31 December 2018.

Previously, Ben served as the company’s managing director and regional head for Central & Eastern Europe – a role which he held for more than seven years - with overall responsibility for the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia.

Ben joined Prologis in 2008 from JLL where he was managing director for Central Europe. An accomplished leader, Ben brings significant real estate knowledge and expertise with more than 20 years’ experience.

Ben graduated from the University of Aberdeen, Scotland, with a degree in land economy (BLE). He is also a UK trained chartered surveyor (MRICS).

Philip Barrett is a managing director at PGIM Real Estate and global head of business and investment operations. Based in London, Philip is responsible for the day-to-day management of fund operations, systems, finance, tax, operational and investment risk, valuations and compliance globally.

Prior to his role as global head of business and investment operations, Philip was for five years the global chief investment risk officer, responsible for coordinating and leading the development of investment strategies and the management of the investment committees across PGIM Real Estate globally. Previously, for over 13 years he was a member of and ultimately led PGIM Real Estate’s European value-add and opportunity funds group. Philip joined PGIM Real Estate in May 1999.

PGIM Real Estate is the real estate investment business of PGIM, Inc., the global investment management businesses of Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE: PRU). For more information visit www.pgimrealestate.com

Aaron is Co-Founder and MD of MetaProp, a New York-based venture capital firm focused on the real estate technology (“PropTech”) industry. The firm manages multiple investment funds for both financial and strategic real estate investors representing a pilot- and test-ready sandbox of 15+ billion square feet across every real estate asset type and global market. The firm’s investment activities are complemented by pioneering community leadership including the PropTech Place innovation hub, MetaProp Accelerator at Columbia University programs, global events NYC Real Estate Tech Week and MIPIM PropTech NYC, and publications Global PropTech Confidence Index and PropTech 101.

Aaron previously served as Chairman of Chicago-based BayRu, LLC, the US-Russia e-commerce shopping and shipping specialist. Prior to BayRu, Aaron was a commercial real estate executive with Cushman & Wakefield, and oversaw more than 270 professionals as leader of the Chicago region.

Aaron has a BA from the University of Illinois, an MBA from DePaul University. Outside of work, Aaron served as a board member of numerous organisations including Young Presidents Organisation (“YPO”), New York City Community Board Five, and Friends of the Chicago River. In addition to English, Aaron also enjoys speaking Spanish and Russian.

In his role as Chief Investment Officer, Martin J. Brühl oversees all real estate transactions of Union Investment Real Estate worldwide. With assets under management totalling more than EUR 40 billion, Union Investment is a leading real estate investment manager providing a variety of investment solutions including non-listed retail and institutional open-ended funds, special funds and separate accounts.

Martin has more than 26 years of industry experience and has worked for groups like Arthur Andersen and Cushman & Wakefield. Trained in banking and equipped with a degree in real estate appraisal and finance of London’s City University Business School, Martin is Past President of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) and current Chairman of the Association of Foreign Investors in Real Estate (AFIRE) whose members manage USD 3 trillion of real estate assets globally.

Magnus is the Director of Business Development and Managing Director of Selina in Germany. He studied international business in Berlin and the UK before attaining his MBA in 2010 in Brazil.

He has a passion for all things Real Estate and during his time at Strömbergs he worked on several expansion projects for top brands and completed consultancy and project development assessments for the biggest institutional landlords. In 2018 he became Real Estate Director at pioneering stay/work/live hotel brand Selina, where he is now MD.

Magnus is an entrepreneurial design enthusiast with a passion for innovative brand development. He is a true Digital Nomad, always on the road and always on the hunt for the fresh and surprising concepts of this world.

Daniel is the co-founder and CSO of Tokeny. In this role he can lever the experience of his corporate background, which centered around global growth of transactional based enterprises in banking (Clearstream Banking owned by Deutsche Boerse), and telecommunication (Syniverse owned by The Carlyle Group).

He is a genuine entrepreneur who mentored and funded several start-ups before creating his own investment boutique.

Daniel is also an adviser for StartUp42, a non-profit startup accelerator part of the EPITA, the Paris based Graduate School of Computer Engineering.

Jon joined IHG in June 2018, bringing with him a wealth of experience in hotel development and investment. As IHG’s Head of Development for UK & Ireland, Jon leads the team responsible for overseeing all development opportunities in one of IHG’s key global markets.

Jon began his career in finance, working for institutions such as GE, Barclays and RBS. Jon went on to spend 5 years at Hilton focusing on development, before becoming CEO of a South African listed property company focused on acquisitions in Europe.

Nick Cook is Chief Executive Officer of Gazeley, GLP’s platform in Europe. Nick was previously Chief Operating Officer of Gazeley where he oversaw all capital deployment, disposition and operational aspects of the business in Europe.

Nick joined Gazeley in 2002 and has held several key positions including establishing Gazeley’s profitable UAE business unit and looking after Gazeley’s business in China, while maintaining a detailed involvement in all aspects of the European business.

Nick is a member of the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors and has 19 years’ experience in the real estate development and investment market. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in General Practice Surveying & Commercial Property Development from Nottingham Trent University and has completed training in several professional courses including a Management & Leadership program at Harvard Business School. Nick is based in London.

Anthony Day has experience of some of the most complex and business critical IT, technology driven and outsourcing projects globally. His particular experience is in high value, multi country transformation projects, including, a variety of outsourcing, off-shoring, systems implementation, data centre and cloud based transactions.

Daniel Gorzawski is Managing Director and Head of Europe, based in London. He oversees sourcing and management of investments and relationships with operating and development partners and is Portfolio Manager of Harrison Street Real Estate’s Europe Funds.

Prior to joining Harrison Street, Mr. Gorzawski was Managing Director Investments at AIG Global Real Estate, where he was responsible for the origination and structuring of debt and equity transactions in Europe including development, investment and management of operating companies. Mr. Gorzawski has successfully transacted in over 10 countries and has been actively involved in over $4 billion of closed acquisitions, dispositions, loans and restructurings. Before joining AIG Global Real Estate, Mr. Gorzawski worked at General Electric Capital in Stamford, CT, where he also completed GE Capital’s graduate Financial Management Program.

Mr. Gorzawski received his Master’s Degree in Economics (Diplom-Volkswirt) from the University of Cologne in Germany.

Stuart Grant is Managing Director of Stanhope. Prior to joining Stanhope, Stuart was a Senior Managing Director and Head of Real Estate Asset Management for Asia-Pacific at Blackstone. Stuart also oversaw the MB Asia Real Estate Fund and had day-to-day asset management responsibility for all of the Real Estate Group's investments in Asia/Pacific.

In 2000, Stuart moved to London to help establish Blackstone's real estate private equity business in Europe. Before joining Blackstone, Stuart was an International Executive at the Jardine Matheson Group based in Asia from 1990 to 1999.

He graduated from The University of St Andrews and earned an MSc from New York University. He currently serves as a Global Trustee of the Urban Land Institute.

Carrie N. Hiebeler is a Senior Investment Officer with Ventas, Inc. (NYSE:VTR), a leading Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT). Ventas is the premier provider of capital to best-in-class healthcare companies and research institutions in North America and the UK.

As a member of the Ventas senior leadership team, Hiebeler is responsible for International Healthcare Investments as well as leading Domestic Medical Office Building, Healthcare Systems and Academic Medical Centers. She focuses on driving growth and diversification of the Company’s real estate portfolio through execution of moderate to large asset and entity transactions.

Hiebeler has spent the majority of her career focused exclusively on healthcare transactions. Immediately prior to joining Ventas in 2012, Hiebeler spent seven years in roles of increasing responsibility with Bank of America Merrill Lynch’s Investment Banking Division, most recently as a Director focused on mergers, acquisitions and debt/equity capital markets transactions. She started her career at Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette in global Equity Research.

Hiebeler received a Bachelor of Science in Biomedical Engineering from Northwestern University and was a Division I field hockey player there. She also received an M.B.A. from The Wharton School (University of Pennsylvania) with a double major in Finance and Healthcare Management.

Fionnuala is an MD at Goldacre, a boutique investment house, where she leads on early stage tech investment with a focus on the Smart Built Environment. Fionnuala is also co-founder and Head of RElab, Goldacre’s mentorled programme supporting entrepreneurs to scale their businesses at an accelerated pace through collaboration with industry partners. Fionnuala’s wide ranging background encompasses over 25 years’ experience of investment, corporate advisory, entrepreneurship and financing across various sectors including real estate, technology and the creative industries. Previous senior roles span larger corporates and start-ups, including at Kleinwort Benson, KPMG, enba group and Hypo Real Estate. A passionate advocate of the power of arts and education to change lives, Fionnuala is currently a Governor of the Southbank Centre, a Trustee of East London Dance and was previously a Trustee of Tomorrow’s Warriors.

Shirley Hsu is Chief Financial Officer of TUS Pine Peak Group (TPPG) based in Hong Kong. TPPG grew out of TUS Holdings group, a science park and technology investment arm of Tsinghua University Holdings with AUM of US$80 billion. TUS holdings is has more than 20 science parks and incubators in tier one and tier two cities in China and a healthcare research and incubator complex with Cambridge University. TPPG will be focus on building smart cities leveraging on the big data and 5G IoT infrastructure in its portfolio companies in both China and overseas.

Prior to joining TPPG in 2019, Shirley was a CEO of UCF Capital for seven years focusing on acquisition and management of luxury real estate of golf resort hotels in UK, Ireland, US and chateaus and vineyards in France, ski resorts in Switzerland for a mainland Chinese conglomerate in addition to M&A activities of financial service of the group. She started her career in investment banking in New York with Lehman Brothers and relocated to Hong Kong with Chase Manhattan in 1991 as a TMT investment banker. She brings to TPPG an extensive experience in fund raising and deal making in investing across technology and real estate sectors with her in depth capital markets expertise and network in Asia Pacific, Europe and US.

Shirley Hsu is a graduate of Columbia University, New York city, U.S.A with MIA degree in international banking and finance. She received her BA of Economics degree from Bryn Mawr College, Philadelphia, U.S.A.

Louise is a managing director for Nuveen Real Estate based in Hong Kong and works across the Asia Pacific region. She is responsible for fund investment strategy and overall performance of assets, including day-to-day operations, acquisition analysis, asset management, client and reporting-related matters. Louise joined the firm in 2017 from Invesco Real Estate having been the fund manager for the Invesco Real Estate Asia Fund since its inception.

Prior to joining Invesco Real Estate, she was a director at Deutsche Bank, RREEF Real Estate Asia Pacific. In her role as head of acquisitions and asset management for Asia Pacific, Louise was responsible for origination, due diligence and monitoring investments across the identified regional markets. Prior to this, she held a number of roles at Investa Property Group, Colonial First State Property and Royal Sun Alliance in Australia and Hong Kong.

Louise graduated is a Bachelor’s of Commerce in Land Economy from University of Western Sydney and a Graduate diploma of Applied Finance and Investment from the Securities Institute of Australia. She sits on the Urban Land Institute’s Hong Kong executive committee and is chair of the Women’s Leadership Initiative.

Philip Levinson has over 30 years of real estate and fund management experience in the Asia Pacific region, including 15 years focused on capital raising (both equity and debt in private and public markets) for global asset managers such as LaSalle and Blackstone. In addition, he has served as CEO of 2 SGX listed REIT’s, one of which, the EUR1.35bn Cromwell European REIT ((CERT) the listing of 74 assets in Europe, the first of its kind in Singapore), he led through IPO.

Philip’s investor contact base includes regional Sovereign Wealth and Pension Funds, as well as Family Offices and High Net Worth investors. Philip established Park Hill Real Estate Asia in 2012, prior to which he had set up Blackstone Australia. Before moving to Singapore in 2005, Philip held senior positions at Westpac Institutional Bank (Head of Hotels and Co-Head of Institutional Real Estate) as well as CBRE and JLL.

After graduating with a Law Degree from Bristol University, Philip commenced his career as a valuer, which lead to his admission into the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors, of which he is now a Fellow.

Dr Robert Lie is Global MD Real Estate at Anthos Fund and Asset Management in Amsterdam. Anthos is a large institutional family office which invests around the world in both direct and indirect real estate. The indirect real estate investments are typically in private funds or co-investments. Robert took up this position recently, after a career in Asia of almost 20 years.

Robert started his real estate career with ING Real Estate, first in The Hague as Head of International Research and Strategy and later in Singapore and Hong Kong where he was CEO of ING REIM Asia. After his time at ING he worked as Managing Director of Redevco Asia and member of the Redevco Board, Managing Director at CITIC Capital Real Estate Group and Founder/CEO of City Square REI, a private firm investing in CBD offices in Shanghai. He also served as advisor to a number of property companies.

Robert previously worked as a lecturer at the faculty of Economics of the University of Amsterdam and at the City University Business School in London (now known as CASS Business School). He holds a BA and MA in Economic Geography and a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Amsterdam. He is a founder and former board member of ANREV.

Chiang Ling Ng is Chief Executive Officer of M&G Real Estate Asia.

Chiang Ling joined M&G in 2014 and was a director of acquisitions prior to taking on her current role in 2016. She started her career in real estate investing in 1998 and brings to M&G broad experience in investing across property sectors and the capital structure, including real estate-related debt and pre-IPO investments in key markets of Asia Pacific.

Chiang Ling is a graduate of Princeton University, U.S.A and holds a B.S.E. degree in Electrical Engineering.

Antoine Mercier is Location Head Real Estate for DLA Piper in France.

Antoine deals with domestic and pan-European real estate acquisition and financing and is widely recognised for his experience in the hospitality and tourism industries.

Antoine has developed a recognized know-how in acquisition and sale transactions of commercial real estate portfolios. Antoine's practice also focuses on construction, property development, commercial urban planning, environment law and renewable energies.

William has been head of the UK Real Estate group at DLA Piper since 2017. He is consistently ranked among the best in real estate law by Chambers and Legal 500 and was described by Property Week as one of the top 10 real estate lawyers in the UK in a survey that they conducted of real estate lawyers.

William has acted for a variety of fund managers and institutional investors for many years in their direct real estate portfolios. He is experienced in all aspects of commercial real estate, including investment, development, joint ventures and structured real estate transactions.

Catherine Pogorzelski advises fund managers and investors on the structuring and formation of and investment into alternative investment funds particularly within the private equity, real estate, debt and hedge funds sectors.

Catherine's practice also includes assisting clients in connection with general regulatory matters, general corporate law, mergers & acquisitions and in particular transactional work relating to investment funds and investment management related financial services.

She also assists on all legal aspects impacting alternative investment fund managers, funds management entities and their service providers, including fund and investment management operator structuring, regulatory compliance and on-going activities.

Catherine is a founding member and member of the board of directors of the non-for-profit organization, Dress For Success, Luxembourg. She is an active member of the PE&VC, AIFMD and publication working groups within ALFI, the Association of the Luxembourg Fund Industry and a member of the legal committee within LPEA, the Luxembourg Private Equity and Venture Capital Association.

Lorraine Reader joined DLA Piper in 2019. She has acted for a wide range of clients on all aspects of commercial property transactions including investment, development, real estate finance and landlord and tenant matters.

She has a particular emphasis on high value investment and portfolio transactions for private equity clients.

With 26 years' experience in real estate investments and developments, hotel, retail and mixed use sectors, Susheela Rivers has advised on landmark developments throughout Asia (including China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Korea, India, Indonesia and Vietnam) and the UK.

With a focus in real estate acquisitions/disposals, financings, developments, leases, hotels and private funding initiatives, Susheela advises international and regional property companies, hotel groups, retailers, private equity real estate funds, investment banks and hospitals on aspects of real estate transactions from structuring the investments, developments, project and investment management, real estate operation to the exit strategies.

Susheela is the Office Managing Partner of DLA Piper Hong Kong, Co-Chair for the Global Real Estate sector, Head of the Real Estate Group and the Hospitality & Leisure Group for DLA Piper in Asia Pacific.

Rob has a broad corporate practice and specialises in domestic and international M&A (both private and public), joint ventures, primary and secondary equity issues. Rob has a particular focus on the Real Estate sector.

In recent editions of the Legal 500 and Chambers and Partners, Rob is recommended for Upper Mid-Market and Premium M&A deals and is also ranked as a leading individual for Corporate/M&A: Mid-Market. He is quoted as being a "superb M&A partner" with "strong technical abilities and relationship management skills" and clients praise him as "very attentive; our needs are his number-one priority" and for his "tailored advice", with clients saying that he "doesn't just give us the law but also gives us advice on how it will affect our business". Chambers and Partners 2017 comments that the "outstanding" Rob Salter gains praise from clients for being "technically strong, hard-working and easy to deal with".

Susan Samuel is a partner at DLA Piper, based in Leeds. She has specific expertise in the Hospitality & Leisure, Consumer and Senior Living sectors.

Susan advises international retailers, corporate occupiers, institutional and private funds, as well as real estate investors. She has managed large teams of lawyers on real estate acquisitions and disposals, cross-border transactions and management and franchise agreements. Her clients include investors, developers and funders of real estate, global hotel operators and corporates.

Stephen is Head of Transactions based in London. He specialises in providing advice and transaction expertise to international and domestic investors on large-scale commercial projects across Europe. 

Stephen joined Cushman & Wakefield LLP in 1994. He is a partner of the firm and within the Cushman & Wakefield operation has held responsibilities as the resident Managing Partner for the Prague Office, Head of the Amsterdam office in 2003, Head of Capital Markets Group in Italy since 2007 and more recently responsible for our EMEA Group with particular focus on Global Capital Sources.

He has over 20 years of professional experience in the real estate markets and has developed a wide range of valuable investor contacts across the world. In addition to actively managing transactions on behalf of institutional clients, which include Goldman Sachs, Tishman Speyer, Credit Suisse, UBS, CPPIB, Apollo, Blackstone, Ares, QIA & ADIA, Stephen coordinates our European investment transaction teams together with our global network. Stephen is a Member of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors.

Elisabeth is a Senior Advisor with more than twenty-five years’ global real estate experience and specialist expertise in building new businesses and accessing global capital.

Until 30 June 2019, Elisabeth was a Managing Director at PGIM Real Estate, which is the real estate investment management platform of Prudential Financial Inc, a NY listed financial services company. Prior to leaving PGIM Real Estate, Elisabeth led the development and launch of PGIM’s first real estate impact investing strategy in 2018.

Elisabeth is actively involved in promoting diversity and inclusion within real estate and is a founder member and on the management committee of Real Estate Balance, a not for profit organisation leading the campaign to improve gender balance at senior levels in the real estate industry. She also led PGIM Real Estate’s Inclusive Leadership Network since inception in 2013 for three years.

Elisabeth qualified as an Advocate & Solicitor in Singapore and holds a Master of Laws (University College, London) and a Bachelor of Laws (National University of Singapore).

Michelle Weiss is Head of Hotel Properties at Aareal Bank AG, one of the leading debt financing providers within the hospitality industry. The bank currently holds a portfolio of over EUR8 billion of hotel financing and is active in more than 25 countries across Europe, North America, and Asia.

Aareal Bank’s hotel team, which consists of eight hospitality professionals, focuses primarily on lending to first-class hotels in prime locations as well as portfolio transactions. Prior to that, Michelle Weiss was a Senior Associate at HVS Hodges Ward Elliott, focusing on the sale and financing of hotels as well as operator selections. She joined the team from HVS Madrid in 2007, where she conducted feasibility and market studies and performed hotel valuations for major hotel clients.

Ms. Weiss is a graduate from Ecole hôtelière de Lausanne and holds a Bachelor of Science in International Hospitality Management.

Data and technology are continuing to drive change across the real estate industry. Nick works with clients helping them to create competitive advantage by advising on how to navigate and translate digital transformation. He collaborates with clients to identify bespoke innovation and technology solutions to deliver customer engagement, improved processes and smart building strategies.

Nick is a regular contributor to publications and conferences within the PropTech and real estate community including; The City of London Corporation’s 2017 report Tech-X The City, the first KPMG Global PropTech Survey and the EG Technology Magazine. He is also a member of the British Property Federation Technology and Innovation Working Group and represents CBRE at the Oxford Said Business School Future of Real Estate programme. Nick has held senior roles with professional services firms in accounting, law and architecture.