Madrid (12 July 2024) – The Urban Land Institute (ULI) has announced the appointment of Jorge Pérez de Leza, the CEO of Metrovacesa, as the next Chair of the ULI Spain National Council. Pérez de Leza succeeds Alberto Valls, Partner, Deloitte Financial Advisory, and officially began his term on 1 July 2024 serving on a voluntary basis for the next two years.

Jorge Pérez de Leza joined ULI in 2021 and has been part of the ULI Spain Executive Committee since then also. He is a member of the ULI Europe Technology and Real Estate Product Council and has been a jury member on the ULI Europe Awards for Excellence since 2022.

Since 2016, Pérez de Leza has led Metrovacesa, one of the leading real estate companies in Spain, with more than €2.5 billion of assets under management. Prior to this, he was Managing Director for Europe at the developer and investor Grupo Lar and Managing Director of European Operations at Excite@Home.

He is President and Founder of Fundación Deporte y Desafío, a non-profit created in 1998 with the goal of developing lifetime skills for children and teenagers with disabilities by providing affordable outdoor sports and recreational experiences. He is also a member of the Harvard Real Estate Alumni Association and an Associate Professor in real estate at IE University.

Outgoing Chair Alberto Valls welcomed his successor’s appointment: “I am sure that under Jorge’s mandate, ULI Spain will achieve both its ambitions and the highest levels of excellence in the programme offer to our members. I’d also like to thank everyone involved with ULI for their collaboration, enthusiasm, hard work, and support during the last three years of my role as Chair.”

“I am honoured to take over the role of ULI Spain Chair from Alberto Valls who has done an excellent job leading the National Council over the last three years. My sincere thanks go to him. I intend to build upon the great momentum from his successful tenure”, said Pérez de Leza.

Under the leadership of Pérez de Leza, a key priority for ULI Spain will be to consolidate ULI as the network of choice for real estate professionals in Spain, by exchanging ideas, leveraging the expertise of its members in Spain, across Europe and globally, and focusing on best practices, ULI’s international research and international expertise.

“Through its members, ULI occupies a great position to have a transformative impact on the built environment, helping to drive solutions to some of our industry’s most pressing challenges when we collaborate, learn from each other, and share expertise and experience, to strengthen our industry and our communities”, said Pérez de Leza. “The global perspective and vision that ULI contributes to some of our industry’s biggest challenges is invaluable.”

Pérez de Leza plans to positively impact industry ’hot topics’ in Spain such as affordable housing, urban regeneration, decarbonisation, and the deployment of new technologies in development and construction.

Another key priority for Pérez de Leza is to focus on the professional education and development of the next generation of real estate leaders in Spain based upon the core values of ULI.

Finally, Pérez de Leza will aim to increase ULI’s reach in Spain, using his experience working in the market to build on the strong momentum achieved in recent years. This will include a focus on membership growth, developing new relationships with potential corporate members, and fostering collaboration with Spanish administrations and universities across Spain.

Lisette van Doorn, CEO of ULI Europe, said: “Welcome to Jorge, a prominent industry leader in Spain’s real estate sector, and very active member of ULI, to lead our National Council for the next two years. His vision to engage with ULI’s network internationally to exchange ideas and expertise, his commitment to the development of talent and to our mission, and his strong regional network, means he is well placed to lead and develop ULI Spain at a time when the industry is facing multiple challenges. The team and I are looking forward to working with him, the ULI Spain Executive Committee and our Executive Director in Spain Barbara Recio Pelayo, leveraging opportunities for further growth in Spain and implementing the strategy.”

“I would also like to express my sincere gratitude to our outgoing Chair Alberto Valls for his leadership and substantial contribution to the ongoing growth and success of ULI Spain.”

ULI 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.

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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 and https://spain.uli.org/