London (4 July 2024) – Anne Kavanagh, the former CEO of residential and mixed-use developer Telford Homes (a Trammell Crow Company Developer), has been appointed as Chair of ULI Europe. Kavanagh succeeds Lars Huber, CEO of Hines Europe, and will serve on a voluntary basis for a two-year term which officially began on 1 July 2024.

Anne Kavanagh, Chair, ULI Europe

Kavanagh has been an active member of ULI since 2001 and will bring a wealth of leadership experience from working with the institute to her new role. She has served on the ULI Global Board of Directors since 2019, has been a Global Governing Trustee since 2011, and is also a member of the European Living Concepts Council. She previously served as the UK National Council Chair, as well as on many committees, including the ULI Europe Executive Committee.

At Telford Homes, one of London’s leading sustainable developers, she focused on designing and delivering high-quality homes and build to rent communities across the capital. During her career, Anne was also a Board Member at international businesses including PATRIZIA where she served as CIO, and at AXA Real Assets where she had headed up Asset Management and Transactions globally.

Kavanagh recently announced her retirement as CEO of Telford Homes (a Trammell Crow Company Developer) and stepped down on 28 June. She plans to focus primarily on her non-executive industry roles, including as ULI Europe Chair, and she will continue her involvement with Telford Homes as a senior advisor.

“A very warm welcome to Anne Kavanagh, who is joining us as the Chair of ULI Europe,” said ULI Global Chair, Diane Hoskins, Global Co-Chair of Gensler. “I know that Anne is passionate about addressing many of the major challenges that our industry faces and has an impressive track record for driving areas such as diversity and sustainability. Her commitment to ULI and to advancing our mission is remarkable, and we’re confident she can only build upon the great legacy left by Lars Huber during his leadership of ULI Europe over the last two years. I’d also like to thank Lars for his enormous contribution to the ongoing success of ULI.”

Lars Huber, outgoing ULI Europe Chair, said: “It has been an honour to lead ULI in Europe over the past two years, which has seen a strong evolution during a seismic period of transformation for our industry in which we have navigated many social, economic, market and geopolitical challenges. During this time, ULI has made important strides to support the industry in a highly impactful way, delivering the Institute’s mission priorities in combination with responsibility towards our communities and our planet. It has been very encouraging to see ULI in Europe go from strength to strength in terms of overall membership growth. Our members are absolutely at the heart of our unique position to effect significant change across the property sector.”

“I am pleased to welcome Anne Kavanagh as our new Europe Chair. Anne is someone who demonstrates remarkable vision and leadership in her contribution to our industry, and she is very committed to driving innovation and effecting change. As such, I am sure that she will really relish working with the Institute, its leaders, and its members to maximise the opportunities ahead, and continue to deliver our ULI mission. I personally could not wish for a better successor as Chair in Europe, and I cannot imagine a more outstanding individual in this role for ULI.”

Anne Kavanagh, former CEO, Telford Homes (a Trammell Crow Company Developer), said: “I am both excited and honoured to undertake the role of ULI Europe Chair and am humbled to follow in the footsteps of Lars who has done a terrific job chairing ULI Europe. I would like to thank him for the significant contribution he has made, and I very much intend to build upon his great legacy in my new role.”

“I am also thrilled to be joining Lisette van Doorn and the ULI Europe team in contributing to the delivery of our mission, and I look forward to working closely with our community of members in Europe who are making some significant and transformative contributions. I’ve been closely involved with ULI for decades, including serving on the ULI Global Board of Directors which developed the present mission and mission commitments, and I will continue to focus fully on delivering the objectives of the institute.”

Kavanagh has identified several priorities that will guide her tenure as ULI Europe Chair:

She explains: “We’re at a point in the industry where we are navigating an extremely complex environment, and looking to the near future we’re going to see changes occur at a scale and a pace that we’ve never seen in this generation.”

“The geopolitical landscape is more volatile and complex than it has been in decades, with worldwide events and political trends impacting the decisions we will make and are making as an industry. AI will also change everything across the entire real estate value chain. A good proportion of the industry is already beginning to use AI, and it is a critical, transformative factor in discussions on the future. Finally, climate & biodiversity change brings with it huge and urgent decarbonisation challenges for our industry.”

“I believe that ULI is extremely well positioned to play a key leadership role in responding to these ever more difficult issues that require even greater collaboration and partnership, and it is very well positioned to encourage the innovation and change that is required by our industry.”

“Clearly, no single person can solve the major challenges that we are all facing. ULI’s great advantage is that it can convene those important discussions at the global, European and the local level. My role as Chair in Europe will be to help our members collaborate and navigate the changes for the benefit of the communities we work with.”

In addition to Kavanagh’s appointment as ULI Europe Chair, four new members of the ULI Europe Executive Committee commenced their terms on 1 July 2024, including Christian Schmid, incoming ULI Germany Chair, Global Governing Trustee of ULI and Member of the Board of Managing Directors, Helaba Landesbank Hessen-Thuringen, Germany; Jorge Pérez de Leza, incoming ULI Spain Chair and CEO, Metrovacesa, Spain; Ariana Maass, the incoming ULI Young Leaders Chair, and Commercial Real Estate Finance – International Investors at Berlin Hyp AG; and Anna Duchnowska, Global Governing Trustee of ULI and Managing Director, Investment Management, Invesco Real Estate, Poland.

Completing the ULI Europe Executive Committee are existing members Lars Huber, Immediate past Chair of ULI Europe and CEO, European Region, Hines; Mark Collins, ULI UK Chair and Executive Director and Chairman of Residential at CBRE; Eric Donnet, ULI France Chair and Directeur général, Daniel Féau Group;; Daniel Benighaus, ULI Europe NEXT Chair and Partner, Greenberg Traurig; Marie Hunt, ULI Ireland Chair and Head of Research, IPUT; Christian Schede, ULI Trustee, representative ULI Charitable Trust, and Co-Chair Global Real Estate Practice, Greenberg Traurig; Amal Del Monaco, Global Governing Trustee of ULI and European Head of Asset Management, Patrizia; Annette Kroeger, Global Governing Trustee of ULI and Europe CEO, PIMCO Prime Real Estate; Alex Jezeph, Global Governing Trustee of ULI and Senior Property Development Manager at Places for London; Karim Habra, Global Governing Trustee of ULI and Global Co-Head of Real Estate at Partners Group; and Lisette van Doorn, CEO of ULI Europe.

Additionally, nine real estate industry luminaries from Europe have been added to the roster of ULI’s Global Governing Trustees: Daniel Benighaus, Partner, Greenberg Traurig LLP (Germany); Clemens Brenninkmeijer, Head of Sustainability, Redevco B.V. (Netherlands); Tamara Brisk, CEO, Mokki (France); Rik Eertink, President EMEA Real Estate Division, CBRE Investment Management (Netherlands); Beverley Kilbride, Chief Operating Officer, Europe, LaSalle Investment Management (France); Sascha Klaus, CEO, Berlin Hyp AG (Germany); Jens Kreiterling, Vorstand, Landmarken AG (Germany); Simone Pozzato, Senior Managing Director, Hines Europe Ltd (United Kingdom); and Jack Renteria, Head of Living By Alfa, ALFA Development (Denmark).

Ends

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Notes to Editors

About the Urban Land Institute

The Urban Land Institute is a non-profit education and research institute supported by its members. Its mission is to shape the future of the built environment for transformative impact in communities worldwide. Established in 1936, the institute has over 48,000 members worldwide representing all aspects of land use and development disciplines.

In Europe ULI has almost 5,500 members across 15 National Council country networks.

For more information on ULI, please visit https://europe.uli.org

About Anne Kavanagh

Anne Kavanagh was the Chief Executive officer of Telford Homes, one of London’s leading sustainable developers, where she focused on designing and delivering high-quality homes and build to rent communities across the capital. Following her retirement on 28 June 2024, she will continue her involvement with Telford Homes as a senior advisor.

In 2019 Telford Homes was acquired by TCC (Trammell Crow Company) an independently operated subsiduary of CBRE Group, Inc. Telford Homes has won the Next Generation award for being the UK’s most sustainable Living Developer for the 4th year running and is on track to be a net zero company by 2030.

Anne has served on the ULI Global Boad of Directors since 2019, and as a Global Governing Trustee since 2011. Anne has been a member of ULI since 2001 and during her time has chaired the UK National Council and served on a number of Commiteees, including the ULI Europe Executive Committee. She is also an active member of the European Living Concepts Council.

Anne is also a Non-Executive Commissioner of the Crown Estate and an Advisory member of Trinity College, Cambridge.

Prior to Telford Homes, Anne was a Member of the Board and Chief Investment Officer at PATRIZIA. PATRIZIA is headquartered in Germany and is a global Real Assets business with AUM of c. EUR 55 billion primarily as an investment manager for insurance companies, pension fund institutions, sovereign funds, savings and cooperative banks and as a co-investor. Anne chaired the Global Investment Committee and was responsible for all real estate investing activities from 2017- 2022.

Prior to PATRIZIA she was a member of the Management Board and Global Investment Committee and Global Head of Asset Management and Transactions at AXA Investment Managers, Real Assets from 2010-2017.

Prior to AXA she carried out leading management roles at internationally recognised businesses, including MD of Real Estate at Lazard, Head of Real Estate at Cambridge Place Investment Management and an International Director in Jones Lang LaSalle’s Capital Markets business.