2014 Jury
Alan first arrived in the CEE region 30 years ago, joining DTZ Prague in May 1993. After heading the Czech business between 1996 and 1999 he went on to lead the DTZ Polish business from 1999-2009, taking overall responsibility for CEE from 2006. After transferring to Canada and the UK in 2010 and 2011, he returned to his former Poland / CEE role at DTZ from 2013 to 2016 during which time the firm merged with Cushman & Wakefield. Though resident in his native Scotland since the end of 2016 he has remained active in the region as an independent management board advisor to proptech firm Velis since July 2021 and as an advisor with a London based boutique capital markets advisory firm DC Partners, currently working on a portfolio project across Poland. Alan has been a member of the RICS since 2006. Charles moved to Central Europe in 1998, residing initially in Budapest and then Warsaw. He is regarded as one of the region’s leading commercial real estate experts. As Managing Director of Cushman & Wakefield in both Hungary and Poland, Charles was responsible for the substantial growth and financial success of these businesses including the successful merger of DTZ and C&W in Poland, creating a market leading real estate consultancy, employing over 440 people. Charles has been instrumental in developing the region’s investment markets since the first institutional capital was deployed back in the early 2000’s. Transacting in the core markets of CE plus Croatia and across all commercial sectors, he has worked with a broad spectrum of clients including DWS, Union Investment, Skanska, Ghelamco, Heitman, Invesco, CBRE IM, Griffin Capital Partners and Credit Suisse. He advised Wing on the successful acquisition of a majority stake in the leading Polish developer Echo Investment and Charles remains a key advocate for the region’s continued success, especially Poland. Recently, Charles has been advisor to the Board and Shareholder of iO Partners – a JLL Preferred Partner, with 250 people and offices in Czech, Hungary, Slovakia, Romania and Serbia. Through Bracken Consulting Ltd, Charles continues to work with select investors targeting Poland. Colin Waddell has been working for CBRE in CEE for over 12 years. Over the last six years Colin has been integral in setting-up and expanding CBRE’s platform in the region which has meant that CBRE now operate as a full-service entity in CEE. Colin’s geographical experience covers all of the principal regional markets and his professional career involves a range of investment consultancy, brokerage and valuation work (including development consultancy) over all sectors of the property industry, up and above his management duties. Before entering the Central & Eastern European market, prior to CBRE, Colin worked for King Sturge in Edinburgh and London for four years. Colin graduated from Heriot Watt University, Edinburgh with an honours degree in Estate Management and is a Member of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors. Hadley has been successfully operating in Poland for over 20 years where he is recognised for growing businesses and consistently outperforming the market place. Before establishing MDC² he used to hold the role of the founding CEO of EPP – the largest owner of shopping centres in Poland (EUR 2.6bn of GAV). Prior to EPP he was a Managing Partner for Eastern Europe for Colliers International where he built the best logistics and industrial space agency business in Central and Eastern Europe. In 2021 Hadley was the recipient of the prestigious CEEQA Lifetime Achievement in Real Estate award. Ilinca is an entrapreneur with 15 years of experience in business and real estate consultancy. She joined Colliers in 2000 after previously being involved in the development of the first shopping mall in Romania. Since then, Ilinca had a significant contribution to the growth and sustainability of Colliers International in the Romanian real estate market. In the 14 years with Colliers International, Ilinca was noted by outstanding spirit of innovation and polyvalence, which allowed her to acquire a substantial track record in virtually all market segments, from office to residential, being involved in some of the major company initiatives and landmark transactions in the market. Based on her large and complementary expertise, understanding of the clients’ needs, as well as proven leadership skills and ability to drive innovation processes throughout all company levels, Ilinca was appointed Managing Director of Colliers International Romania in 2010. In this role, she has been guiding the integration of the Romanian office in a global platform of information, bridging corporate services, market insights and comprehensive business solutions into a single point of contact, which the objective to offer all Colliers clients the highest-possible standards of service quality. With Ilinca Paun as ambassador, in 2013, Colliers International Romania was the first company in the region to create and propose companies a new style of working, under the form of a prototype of the Generation Y Office. As Head of Central & Eastern Europe, Jonathan oversees Cushman & Wakefield’s operations across the region, with over 1100 staff in six countries (Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Poland, Russia and Turkey) and Cushman & Wakefield Alliance partners in a further nine countries across the CEE region. Jonathan is a European Executive Committee Member of Cushman & Wakefield and the Managing Partner of Cushman & Wakefield in the Czech Republic. He is a member of the RICS, IBF Board Member (International Business Forum), and BGMC Board Member. Monika is a UK chartered surveyor (FRICS), chartered town planner (MRTPI), Civil Commercial Mediator, Polish licensed valuer and a licensed broker with over 30 years of experience in development advice, property finance and investment, valuation as well as property and asset management. She graduated in Town Planning at the South Bank University in London and Estate Management at College of Estate Management Reading University in UK. For several years, she worked for a chartered surveying firm of Montagu Evans in London as a Development consultant. Monika joined Price Waterhouse CEE in 1991 and has gained extensive experience of the real estate markets throughout Central and Eastern Europe. In 1995 she was appointed a Director of Price Waterhouse Real Estate and became a Chairman of Knight Frank in Poland in 1998, currently overseeing Asset and Property Management as well as Valuation service lines. In 2011-2014 she was a Chairman of RICS Polska and currently heads up the RICS Mediation Working Party aiming to introduce alternative dispute resolution services in the Polish property market. A specialist in leasing and managing retail properties including development, expansion, property & asset management, Renata re-joined DTZ in November 2013 as a Senior Director, Head of Retail for CEE. She has over 13 years experience in the retail property sector, nine of them at DTZ in Poland where she headed the Retail Agency team in Central Europe. Renata held senior management board positions at Carrefour Poland as a Director of property and asset and expansion, she was responsible for the property and asset management of 330 hyper- and supermarkets and 40 shopping centers in Poland. Renata has a Master of Science in Economy with specialty in Property Appraisal and Management from Sheffield Hallam University and accreditation of RICS Royal Institution of charted Surveyors, a BA in Economy with speciality in Property Management at the WSGN School of Property Management in Warsaw and a post-graduate degree from the School of Property Valuation from Warsaw School of Management. Tomasz is now Managing Director for JLL in the CEE, having taken over the role in the CEE at the end of 2018. He oversees JLL activities in the region (offices in Bucharest, Budapest, Bratislava and Prague, and JLL activities across all countries in the CEE/SEE region). He also continues as the Managing Director of JLL Poland. Tomasz has over 20 years of experience in the Central European real estate markets. He has run Polish capital markets team since 2005, and the wider CEE capital markets from 2008 to 2013. He has participated in numerous transactions across the CEE, including investment, structured equity, fund raising and debt deals. One of his recent accomplishments in his MD role at JLL is the acquisition of REAS, a residential consultancy based in Warsaw, thus allowing JLL to cover all sectors of real estate in Poland, with the plan to roll out the residential advisory services across the region. As a civil engineer Alfred started his professional career from the roots – working several years as a site manager in a medium-size German/Bavarian company. He is continuing a family tradition representing the third generation working in the construction management. His professional experience began in Poland in 1998 with the position of a STRABAG’s site manager of M1 Shopping Centre in Bytom. His outstanding achievements contributed to his promotion in 2004 to a Member of the Board of STRABAG General Construction & Engineering Division. Since January 2013 Alfred is also responsible for Transportation Infrastructure and he is very well linked to other CEE and SEE markets via the STRABAG Group. Under the leadership of Alfred Watzl STRABAG and their almost 3500 employees were awarded the CEEQA Construction Company of the Year 2005, 2009 and 2012. As Managing Director for the CEE region Andrew is responsible for developing and managing First Title Insurance plc’s CEE/SEE business. In this capacity he is responsible for the company’s strategic direction and comprehensive business strategy as well as understanding the region’s markets and risks. He works extensively with the senior management of national and international property investment/development companies and their financing lenders. Andrew is a pioneer of title insurance in CEE/SEE and has helped First Title be a risk participant in nearly €5.4 billion worth of commercial property transactions. Andrew has worked for 10 years with First Title in the CEE/SEE market which has resulted in providing extensive knowledge of the region’s real estate market including the title risks in the various countries, solutions to protect against those risks and an in-depth understanding of the real estate industry. With his profound knowledge of risks and the property market, Andrew successfully leads the CEE/SEE office in coordinating with clients and First Title’s skilled underwriters in structuring bespoke and off-the-shelf title insurance solutions for leading lenders, property developers and investors. In a risk adverse market, First Title’s expertise and specialist policies can make a difference. Andrew studied Business at the University of Hertfordshire (UK) and holds a diploma in Finance and Insurance. Brendan is Head of the Corporate Property and Hotels Department for Santander Bank Polska. Santander has the largest property finance portfolio and the largest team of property financing professionals in the Polish market. The team is an experienced long-term financing partner in both Development and Investment Real Estate projects in Poland across all property sectors. Brendan has over 25 years of experience in financing Property projects including over 15 years of experience in the Polish Property market. After a successful legal career spanning more than 27 years as a real estate lawyer with the like of Mills & Reeve (Cambridge), Linklaters (London and Prague) and most recently as managing partner of Wilsons law firm, Bryan has changed direction and is now Head of CEE and Head of European Business Development for Dual Asset. Once a client of Bryan’s, Dual Asset is the largest Managing General Agent (MGA) outside of the US and is a leading provider of transactional risk insurance across Europe, providing insurance on many of the most high profile transactions and helping banks and insolvency and bankruptcy trustees dealing with the sales of distressed assets. Eva has over 20 years of experience in real estate financing. She spent seven years covering the Hungarian market where she partnered with well known international developers and investors to execute large deals. Upon her relocation to Vienna, Eva worked on various significant CEE and SEE projects covered by the UniCredit Group, including Turkey, Russia, Ukraine. She has extensive experience with a broad range of real estate financing transactions. Eva graduated with an MsC from the prestigious Corvinus University in Budapest. James is an Investment Director at NBGI Private Equity, a pan European mid-market investor. He joined NBGI in April 2007 to establish the real estate practice. Prior to joining NBGI, he was a fund manager in the CEE private equity division of INVESCO and a consultant at Arthur Andersen where he qualified as a Chartered Accountant. He holds an MA in Geography from the University of Oxford. Jan is joint founder and President of the Management Board of Capital Park S.A., one of leading investment companies operating in the Polish real estate market with a portfolio of over 300 thousand sqm of office, retail and residential space. He has almost thirty years of experience in the real estate sector within the scope of preparation, financing and also development of commercial projects, particularly office buildings. In 1986–2001 Jan was the owner of Progressive Development Inc., a company that developed a range of construction projects in the American market. In the 1990s he was a shareholder in a group of Polish companies owned by Euro RSCG, one of Europe’s largest marketing concerns. Also, he was associated for ten years with Communication One Inc. that includes Call Center Poland S.A. – leader in the call center market in Poland. Karol works in the real estate industry for almost last 20 years. He is currently responsible for Futureal Investment Partners, the Investment arm of Futureal Group. Futureal Group is one of the biggest commercial and residential developer in CEE but also active in US, Israel, Germany and UK. Futureal beside residential development business in Poland (Cordia and Polnord) has also logistic activities in the CEE region (HelloParks), hotel, office, and retail investments. Prior joining Futureal Karol worked at Australian’s Cromwell Property Group (ASX index) responsible for CEE region (Poland, Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia and Romania) in the commercial real estate sector managed 50 people team and Euro 1,2 bn AUM. Since 2009 till 2020 additionally managed Polish Retail Fund holding 11 polish assets initially in the portfolio, with 750 retail tenants, and since 2012 till 2021 managed Central European Industrial Fund, holding c. 50 logistic assets in Poland, Czech Republic, Romania and Hungary, 270 tenants and AuM c. Euro 275 MM initially. Prior Cromwell, Karol worked at GE Capital Real Estate, involved in MBO of GE Capital Real Estate polish and Luxembourg licensed businesses to Cromwell. Size of the transactions c. Euro 550 MM. Prior GE Capital Real Estate worked at Aareal Bank and ING Real Estate IM. Karol holds independent supervisory positions in BlueWater Capital, Polnord S.A. Karol has both, CCIM and RICS certificates Lenka has been active in real estate financing more than 15 years. Together with her professional team within ČSOB, she is responsible for real estate financing in the Czech Republic. The main task of the division is to secure the financial service tailored-made for real estate developers and investors and others, for whom is the ownership, facility management or real estate crucial in their business. During the career, Lenka has successfully structured the financing of dozens real estate projects in volume of several billion EUR. Lenka is the Board member of Association for real estate development from 2012. Louis is a Principal in the Real Estate Group of Blackstone and is based in London. Since joining Blackstone in 2010 he has been involved in evaluating real estate investments in several property types throughout Europe. Before joining Blackstone he was an Associate at Merrill Lynch Global Principal Investments where he was involved in a variety of real estate acquisitions, primarily in Central and Eastern Europe, prior to which he was a corporate attorney in New York City. Louis has a dual degree in Common and Civil Law from McGill University, where he graduated with Great Distinction, and an M.B.A. from Columbia University. Sentient is one of the largest Project & Cost Management Consultants operating throughout Central & Eastern Europe and beyond. Following 22 years with Gardiner & Theobald, rising to Equity Partner, in 2013 Mark led the successful buyout of the G&T CEE operation together with the other regional partners. With the rebranding completed in October 2013, Sentient is now firmly established throughout the region with offices in Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Montenegro and Croatia, together with extensive experience in many of the neighbouring countries, including into Italy and Austria – all based on the provision of high quality, client-focused services. Mark has been based in CEE for over 20 years and has experience throughout the region. He is a Member of the Institute of Royal Chartered Surveyors. Martin joined CPI Group in 2011 and became responsible for property acquisitions, bank financing and legal matters of the group. Since then CPI Group acquired properties worth almost €2 billion and expanded from the Czech Republic and Slovakia to many other CEE countries and France. Martin has led the team acquiring Ablon Group, Endurance Fund, Palais Maeterlinck as well as shares in Orco Property Group. Prior to joining CPI Group, he worked at Linklaters/Kinstellar and Salans law firms for over 10 years and represented international and local real estate investors and developers. Martin graduated from the Faculty of Law of the Charles University in Prague and from the University of Economics in Prague. Otis was hired in September 2013 as the President of the Board of PPM. He is responsible for the asset management for Polonia I and Polonia II, the origination and execution of new business in Poland, as well as the managerial oversight of Peakside’s office in Warsaw. He has over 20 years of experience in the real estate industry and has executed transactions and functioned as a fiduciary in North America, Europe and Asia. He was until recently the Co-Head/Managing Director of KSP Real Estate Investment Management. From 2005 to 2012, Mr. Spencer was active as Managing Director/Co-Head Europe and member of the Investment Committee with Heitman. During this time he directed the Portfolio Management for Heitman’s European Private Equity group and was the Portfolio Manager for Heitman European Property Partners IV. In addition to his portfolio management responsibilities, Mr. Spencer was active in originating transactions and capital raising efforts as well as contributing to the strategic development of Heitman’s European platform. Prior to Heitman, Otis worked for ABP Investments (“ABP”) in the Netherlands where he was a Senior Portfolio Manager. In this capacity, he was responsible for sourcing, structuring and managing non-listed real estate investments on behalf of ABP’s European and Asia Pacific Strategic Funds. During his time at ABP, Mr. Spencer identified and completed ABP’s first real estate private equity investments in Central Europe and Asia. Otis graduated from the University of California Berkeley with a master’s degree in business administration with a concentration in finance and real estate. He also has master’s degree in real estate designation from the Universiteit van Amsterdam. Mr. Spencer holds a dual citizenship from the Netherlands and the United States, and is based in Warsaw, Poland. Pavel is Member of the Board, CEO and Head of Strategy at Slovakia-based real estate development company HB Reavis, joining the company in 2007. He was previously Associate Principal at McKinsey and Company (2000 – 2007) and an Associate at Bank Austria Investment Bank. He is a graduate of The University of Rochester – William E. Simon Graduate School of Business Administration. Robert has worked in the commercial real estate industry since 1982 based in cities including London, Brussels and currently Prague and Bucharest since 1991. After an agency background with Healey & Baker in 1993 (now Cushman & Wakefield), he created the development and asset management company Portland Trust in 1998. Portland Trust has been in partnership with US property and fund management group Ares Management, L.P. (formerly AREA Property Partners) since 1999. Ares currently has assets under management of over $160 billion and provides equity capital jointly with Portland Trust to purchase development projects, under-managed assets with refurbishment potential and undercapitalised companies in central and eastern Europe. Together, Ares and Portland Trust have developed or refurbished over 800,000 m2 of commercial space in the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Romania. Better known projects include Metropole Zlicin (one of the first major malls in Prague), Bucharest Business Park (the first A-class business park in Bucharest), Floreasca Park (which in 2014 won the CEEQA Office Development of the Year and the CEEQA RealGreen Building of the Year, CEEQA Green Leadership Award and CIJ Investment transaction of the year in 2015), Oregon Park (which won the CEEQA Overall Building of the Year SEE in 2018) and more recently the new ING Bank HQ, EXPO Business Park in Bucharest. Roberta has been with Raiffeisen Immobilien KAG (Vienna) since 2008, a member of the Austrian banking group Raiffeisen. As Head of Investment Management she is responsible for the buying, selling and financing of commercial real estate for the real estate funds managed in trust by the company. The company is active in buying core/core + office and logistics buildings in Poland, Germany, France and the Netherlands. Roberta began her career as a Controller with the real estate fund management company Bank Austria Creditanstalt Real Invest GmbH in Vienna and subsequently with Volksbank AG, Vienna (formerly Investkredit Bank AG) where she worked in commercial real estate finance in CEE, loved every minute of it, and became a Senior Vice President. In 2006 she made the transition from bank to investor and was an Investment Manager at Unibail Rodamco Group, based in Vienna, working at buying/ selling/ asset management of truly outstanding retail assets in CEE and Austria. Roberta is Austrian, based in Vienna and speaks German, English, French, Italian and has rudimentary knowledge of Czech and Russian. Roger has been employed in his current role since May 2012. Between 2009-2012 he was engaged in assisting companies with pursuing investment opportunities and capital raising in Asia. Between 2006 and 2009 he held various positions including Business Development with Private Equity firms in Romania, Russia and Turkey and was CEO of a closed-end fund in Central Europe. From 1989-2006 he worked as VP Development ProLogis Europe and developed/acquired properties in Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, Sweden, Netherlands and Belgium, he has also worked with International Developer with Schiphol Group and commenced projects in Hong Kong, Brisbane, South Africa and Vienna. Europa Capital is a pan-European real estate investment management business, which has invested over €5bn in 17 countries across Europe. Mr. Norman has nearly 20 years’ experience investing in central and eastern European property. He is currently CEO of Emerging Europe Fund, a €164m real estate opportunity fund focused on Romania, Bulgaria, western Balkans, Ukraine and Turkey. He previously worked as senior banker at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. Prior experience included Bank of America, Bank of Boston and a private property group.Agent & Industry Partners
Alan Colquhoun MRICS, Management Board Advisor, Velis
Charles Taylor MRICS, Advisor to the Board & Shareholder, Bracken Consulting
Colin Waddell, Managing Director Poland, CBRE
Hadley Dean, Founder, MDC²
Ilinca Paun, Managing Director Romania, Colliers International
Jonathan Hallett MRICS, Executive Partner, Head of Central & Eastern Europe, Cushman & Wakefield
Monika Debska-Pastakia, (FRICS) Partner, Chairman of the Board Poland, Knight Frank
Renata Kusznierska, Senior Director, Head of Retail CEE, DTZ
Tomasz Trzoslo, Managing Director Central & Eastern Europe, JLL
Industry Operators
Alfred Watzl, Member of the Board, Strabag
Andrew Jackson, Managing Director CEE, First Title
Brendan Long, Head of Property and Hotels, Santander Bank Polska
Bryan Wilson, Head of CEE, Dual Asset
Eva Boehler MRICS, Director CEE Real Estate Financing, UniCredit
James Huckle, Investment Director, NBGI Private Equity
Jan Motz, President, Capital Park
Karol Pilniewicz, CEO, Futureal
Lenka Kostrounova, Director of Real Estate Financing Division, CSOB
Louis-Simon Ferland, Principal, Blacktone
Mark Rea MRICS, Managing Partner, Sentient
Martin Nemecek, Acquisitions Director, CPI
Otis Spencer, President, Peakside Polonia Management
Pavel Trenka, Group CEO, HB Reavis
Robert Neale FRICS, Chief Executive Officer, Portland Trust
Roberta Tumpel, Head of Investment Management, Raiffeisen Group
Roger Peters, Regional Director Northern & Eastern Europe, Goodman
Tim Norman, Chairman, Europa Capital