Simon is Vice President, Research & Advisory Services at the Urban Land Institute (ULI), where he is responsible for managing its innovative research agenda covering the key issues shaping the future of cities and the real estate industry including climate change and sustainability, investment and development trends and shifts in demography and technological change. Prior to joining ULI, Simon specialised in research on global cities and real estate for Grosvenor, one of the world’s largest privately-owned international property businesses. Simon’s role involved undertaking analysis on global city developments to inform the company’s long-term strategy and thinking on cities. He has undertaken major research projects on megatrends for real estate, examining topics such as urbanisation, demographic change, digital disruption and climate change. Simon also has previous experience working in urban planning, economic development and strategic consulting for the retail sector. He holds an MSc in Urban Economic Development from The Bartlett Development Planning Unit, University College London.

Carl-Johan is a Co-Chair of ULI’s Operational Real Estate Forum. He is an advisor to several market-leading platforms in the hospitality, data centre and senior housing space and works closely with several investors, both institutional and opportunistic, in targeting operator-driven real estate in the Nordics. Prior to joining Thylander, he was the Chief Investment Officer at Fokus Nordic where he completed €1.5bn of acquisitions including for a listed investor acquiring the largest supermarket platform in the Danish market and building a pan-Nordic logistics platform for a large institution. Before joining Fokus, he developed and asset managed a hotel chain in Africa from 2015, exiting it in 2020 after being responsible for building from scratch Kalumbila, a new town in Zambia currently housing more than 15,000 people. Early in his career he worked for Citi, Blackrock and Catella in New York, London and Copenhagen.

Kinga Nowakowska is a COO and board member in Capital Park Group. Since 2007, she has been associated with the Capital Park Group, where she is a member of the management board and the operational director. She is involved in the largest projects carried out by the Group, including Royal Wilanów. Since 2009, she has been responsible for the implementation of the prestigious revitalization project of Norblin Factory in Warsaw. Kinga Nowakowska is responsible for managing the company's asset management department. She is the author of the Biuro Plus concept, according to which individual solutions are implemented in each of the Capital Park Group's projects to support the needs of tenants. The idea is based on high-quality architecture, ecology and sustainable development, greenery and quality of the surroundings, promotion of sport and physical activity, art and culture in common spaces, a wide range of services and a creative approach to asset management. She invests in start-ups from various industries. One of her most interesting investments is BioBazar - the first organic, certified food market in Poland - which has been operating on the Warsaw market for 13 years.

Conall McGuire, with 20 year’s experience on Polish residential market, is CEO of Leach & McGuire, a boutique advisory offering comprehensive letting and property management solutions for institutional investors active on the Polish residential (PRS) and student housing (PBSA) market. Conall has played a major part within the institutional Living Sector in Poland since it’s inception almost 10 years ago by having successfully launched some of the first PRS / PBSA projects in Poland for Bouwfonds in both Warsaw and Krakow thus pioneering residential property and leasing management for institutional investors in Poland His deep knowledge and broad experience has now helped guide many institutional investors through the whole investment cycle from pre-purchase feasibility studies through to the nuances of the commercialization and letting processes whilst simultaneously supporting them in other areas such technical property management and overall reporting duties. Conall and his team have played key roles in developing some of the largest PRS platforms on the Polish market such as Heimstaden’s acquisition and commercialization program of c. 4,500 units across 5 cities. They are also heavily involved in managing and operating some of the largest PRS/PBSA portfolios on the Polish market for partners such as the Van der Vorm group and Zeitgeist among others.

John Gabrovic is a pioneer of Poland’s restaurant and leisure scene having been a Founding Partner in Atomic Entertainment Group, responsible for iconic projects such as: Ground Zero night clubs, Blue Cactus and Boathouse restaurants in Warsaw, Café Sukiennice in Krakow, and the Atomic World Bowling complexes in Krakow, Wroclaw and Warsaw. John also founded a chain of Mediterranean bistros in Orlando, Florida. During the 2010’s working with White Star Real Estate, John was the Asset Manager for Galeria Sloneczna in Radom and he supported the strategy and leasing efforts for the food & beverage areas of Elektrownia Powisle, including the food hall. Seeing the Food Hall trend and the opportunity to combine his real estate and restaurant experience, he returned to his entrepreneurial roots to nurture the CEE food hall industry having opened the Stacja Food Hall in Gdansk in 2019. His Inspire Real Estate Advisory group now supports the International Real Estate industry having consulted on over 10 Community Hub projects in retail and mixed-use projects around the CEE, all featuring Food Halls. His fund Inspire Restaurant Brands SA owns food hall restaurant brands Maricruz (burritos) and Big Dog (burger + chicken) and he recently re-launched the Blue Cactus restaurant brand in Elektrownia Powisle and Fabryka Norblin.