The Urban Land Institute has appointed Daniel Benighaus, attorney and shareholder at global law firm Greenberg Traurig, to be the new Chair of its NEXT Group in Europe for a two-year term.

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. ULI has almost 5,500 members across the entirety of the real estate value chain in Europe. The ULI NEXT programme engages and supports real estate professionals aged from 35–45 as they seek to take the next step in their careers.

Benighaus succeeds Nicholas Garattini, head of the business development & investor relations department at Generali Real Estate, who has chaired the European NEXT group for the last two years.

Daniel Benighaus has worked in real estate since 2010 and has been an active member of ULI since 2014. He was the co-chair of the Young Leaders in Berlin and has chaired NEXT in Germany since 2021.

Benighaus comments, “With members in the midst of their careers, the NEXT group faces specific challenges. It is fantastic that ULI has a separate group for these real estate professionals. As chair of ULI NEXT in Europe, I would like to facilitate the European networking possibilities that the group needs, shaping its focus to the requirements of the next generation of leaders in real estate, and supporting the growth of the national and local NEXT groups.”

Lisette van Doorn, CEO, ULI Europe, comments, “ULI NEXT is a highly engaged group of ambitious professionals within ULI and this programme provides an excellent environment for our next generation of leaders to advance in their careers. Nicholas Garattini has served the group over the last two years, and I would like to personally thank him for his efforts to cultivate this group.”

“Daniel is a long standing ULI member and has demonstrated great commitment to NEXT and the future of our industry through his leadership of the NEXT group in Germany, which he chaired until recently. His collaborative leadership style has brought great engagement and energy to the group resulting in strong momentum and significant growth of NEXT in Germany. The team in Europe looks forward to collaborating with him to further enhance the programme and expand and create impact for members within ULI NEXT across Europe.”

Lars Huber, Chair, ULI Europe, adds, “Nicholas has enjoyed great success during his term as Chair, particularly through the organisation of the group’s first Europe NEXT Meeting this year, a great event designed to bring together the next generation of real estate leaders to convene on industry challenges. I am very pleased to welcome Daniel into the role as chair of ULI NEXT – we see huge potential in this highly engaged group, and I look forward to working with him to further enhance NEXT in Europe and embed it in the wider organisation to ensure ULI responds to the needs of this important group, and we jointly help generate solutions to our industry’s most pressing challenges.”

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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.

ULI’s mission priorities that the organisation will be focusing on over the next three years include:

• decarbonising the real estate sector and targeting net zero;
• educating the next generation of diverse real estate leaders; and,
• increasing housing attainability in communities around the world.

ULI has almost 5,500 members in Europe across 15 National Council country networks. For more information, please visit europe.uli.org, or follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn or Instagram.