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.

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).

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.