Rebeca Guzman Vidal is the group head of retail at international investor, asset manager and developer Chelsfield, where she works on retail strategy across a global portfolio that spans gateway cities including London, Paris, New York and Hong Kong. Chelsfield is currently redeveloping a third of the 3.5 acre Knightsbridge Estate, a mixed-use, retail-led portfolio in London, on behalf of owner The Olayan Group. Rebeca is heavily involved in bringing new retailers to the development and leveraging relationships that cross over into the Paris and New York portfolios. More recently, she has also focused on refining the long term retail strategy of the portfolio to ensure its resilience as the world prepares for a global recovery. In Paris, Rebeca is working on projects on Avenue Montaigne that will significantly change the retail landscape of the Triangle d’Or whereas in New York she is working closely with the team in delivering a best-in-class amenities and retail strategy for the redevelopment of 550 Madison Ave., a Philip Johnson-designed tower that has been completely re-imagined by the ownership team including delivering the largest public green space in the Plaza District in recent decades. Prior to joining Chelsfield, Rebeca worked at CBRE where she was part of the London retail advisory team working for some of London’s major landlords including Grosvenor, The Crown Estate, Cadogan Estate and Great Portland Estates. She specialised in luxury assets and worked on a number of high-profile placemaking schemes including Regent Street, Sloane Street and Mount Street. She started her career in the Barcelona office and subsequently moved to London and later Hong Kong. Throughout her experience, Rebeca grew more enamoured with global retail and regularly visiting key “gateway cities” to check out the latest store and restaurant openings. In her free time, Rebeca typically enjoys travelling and is a real foodie, so will trave

Head of the High Street Retail Italy and Co-Head of cross-border retail activities at EMEA level, for both leasing & capital markets, Niccolò Suardi advises retailers and investors across all retail asset types, with main focus on the high street, luxury and high-end F&B. With over 14 years of experience in Real Estate Services, he worked for different local companies before joining World Capital Group in 2013, where he became Head of Advisory, overseeing the Letting & Investment team. In 2016 he moved to the BNP Paribas Group: initially a Senior consultant in the Office Department, he launched the local Retail business unit. He also contributed to the development of the Pan-European platform by creating a channel dedicated to the High Street segment and strong synergies with the major Italian brands. In recent years he focused on the Luxury and Premium sectors, executing significant operations, including internationally notable deals. "Retail is a world totally driven by brands. Brands full of meaning, meaning full of passions, passions full of humans."

Since my early days as a geography student, I have been passionate about retail and real estate. No other industry is more exciting in my opinion. And even more so in the digitalization age and with regard to sustainability, it has never been more important to find smart solutions. I am passionate about these current challenges as I was before as a consultant, researcher and property developer. Currently I work in business development and relationship management as well as being a corporate social influencer for one of the global leaders in food retailing. I like the ULI since my early carreer for its always open minded discussions on the future of our cities. My philosophy on life: It's all about people, relations and trust. And as a native Bavarian: Think global, act local.