ESG & Impact Investing Committee biographies

Katie is the Chair of the AREF ESG & Social Impact Investing Committee. 

Katie is a Fund Manager within LaSalle Global Partner Solutions, having joined the team in 2010.  She holds a degree in Architecture from the University of Toronto, a MSc. in Real Estate from CASS Business School and the CFA Society of the UK, Investment Management Certificate. 

As well as being Chair of the AREF ESG & Social Impact Investing Committee, she is also Chair of the Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark (GRESB) Advisory Committee and member of the United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative Property Working Group.

Sam is the Head of Sustainability in CBRE's Valuations and Advisory Services team, appointed to integrate ESG metrics into property valuations. He works with CBRE's valuations clients to understand the implications of ESG risks, as well as support market analysis of the impact of sustainability on asset value. He is particularly passionate about how to promote engagement between stakeholders across the property lifecycle to decarbonise buildings.  

Previously Sam was Director of Sustainability at Carbon Intelligence (formerly Carbon Credentials), advising real estate clients on the integration of ESG within property portfolios. During this time, he engaged widely across the real estate industry including sitting on the GRESB European Benchmark Committee, UKGBC Future Leadership Forum Advisory Board and BBP REEB Benchmark Committee. He also supported the UKGBC's Advancing Net Zero programme by participating in the Net Zero Carbon Task Group, Energy Performance in Offices Task Group, Renewable Energy Procurement and Offsetting Task Group and as a co-author of their "Scope 3 Guide for Commercial Real Estate".

Chantal Beaudoin is Partner and Head of ESG at Knight Frank Investment Management (c. £4 billion AuM). Previously Chantal launched the World's 1st Whole Life Net Zero Carbon Hotel and led McDonald's UK first-mover transition of 1bn. p.a. plastic straws to paper, as well as the region’s Science Based Target climate goals. With over 15 years of experience building & delivering large scale sustainability strategies in the real estate, hospitality & higher education sectors Chantal has designed solutions to activate sustainability across the globe and is dedicated to implementing projects with momentous impact tracking CO2 equivalents, benefits to people and communities, along with cost savings as key success metrics.

Jonathan has extensive experience in the field of sustainability. Before he started at Knight Frank he led the ESG and Sustainability advisory services team within the BNP Paribas Real Estate UK division of Property Management.  This involved guiding clients (from C-suite to asset level) on ESG risks & opportunities, coordination of corporate reporting such as GRESB, UNPRI and EPRA sBPR, supporting clients understand how to make progress on Net Zero and in aligning with TCFD requirements. 

Jonathan also oversaw the centralised service line delivery of ESG related projects geared at driving sustainability performance across the client base.  These projects covered portfolio and asset level technical assessments such as sourcing property utilities efficiency opportunities (energy, water, waste & health & wellbeing) as well as due diligence assessments to understand the steps towards guiding landlords on steps to reaching Net Zero on both a portfolio and individual asset basis.  The BNPPRE sustainability team function also supported client requests for assessments to review the most appropriate approach to incorporating themes, certification and reviews associated with health & wellbeing, social value, biodiversity net gain, green travel plans and sustainability building certification.

 

Oliver leads on Real Estate at Accenture and is driven to help organisations transition to a net-zero and just economy whilst creating Fund value. Oliver has been fortunate to collaborate with many of the most ambitious private equity, asset managers, and asset owners, resulting in numerous awards and millions in financial savings.

Oliver enjoys close relationships with industry bodies driving change across the sector. He has supported numerous thought-leadership reports, including the whole life carbon report for IIGCC, the SDR consultation with AREF, and many other research papers on ESG, scope 3, regulation, and technology. Oliver’s been twice shortlisted for the AREF outstanding individual contribution award for his work with AREF on sustainability, and he also sits on the AREF and IIGCC ESG committee.

Oliver has an MBA from Bayes Building School (formerly Cass), a BA in Geography, and an MSc in Environmental Management, both from The University of Nottingham.

Georgie Nelson is Head of ESG for Real Estate at abrdn. She is responsible for heading up ESG strategy and integration for abrdn’s real estate investments business with a specialist focus on climate and biodiversity. She also sits in the Natural Capital team to support the company’s wider natural capital offering and is involved in some of the live pilots of the TNFD framework with numerous internal and external stakeholders.

Georgie sits on numerous expert industry working groups both in the UK and globally including co-chair of the European Investments Working Group for the Better Buildings Partnership and is a member of the technical standards board at Wilder Carbon. Prior to abrdn, Georgie worked at Carbon Intelligence supporting and delivering on sustainability solutions for investors and corporates.

Alexandra Notay is Placemaking and Investment Director at Thriving Investments, the fund and asset management arm of Places for People Group, overseeing a UK-wide residential investment strategy. She is an internationally-recognised expert on build to rent, placemaking and sustainable urban development, with 16 years’ strategic advisory and investment experience to private sector, government and third sector organisations across four continents.

Alex is a published author and editor of over 30 books and reports on real estate including the renowned ULI UK Best Practice Guide on Build to Rent (2014, 2016). Alex is vice-chair of the ULI UK Residential Council, chair of the BPF working group on residential ESG, serves on BPF’s Build to Rent Committee, AREF’s ESG / Impact Investing committee and is a Member of CREFC Europe. She is also a non-executive director of Essensys plc, Co-Chair of the Creative Land Trust, SouthWest Board Member for LandAid and trustee of the SunScreenIT Foundation.

Gabriella is Assistant Portfolio Manager for Schroders Capital Real Estate Impact Fund, which is seeking to contribute to reducing social inequality in the UK through place-based impact investing, whilst delivering an appropriate financial return. Gabriella has over 5 years’ experience in the Real Estate fund management industry. Gabriella holds the Investment Management Certificate (IMC) and graduated with a first class honours degree in Economics from the University of Exeter.

Jess joined Fiera Real Estate (“FRE”) in early 2020 to lead the firm’s ESG strategies across its investments, developments and operations. Before joining FRE, Jessica started her career in 2010 at the Public Investment Corporation Real Estate Asset Managers (PICREAM) in South Africa managing a portfolio of retail assets located in underserviced townships. She then joined IPD (now MSCI Real Estate), where she led their global sustainability benchmarking initiatives. In 2014, she joined GVA (now Avison Young) as an Associate Director within their Sustainability Consultancy team. Jessica later moved to the Commercial Real Estate Credit team at Royal Bank of Scotland (now NatWest Group) where she was responsible for setting up processes to take into account environmental and sustainability risks when assessing commercial lending propositions.

Edward is the Head of Sustainability at PATRIZIA, where he is responsible for shaping and executing the group’s sustainability strategy, including integration of ESG throughout investment processes and spearheading progress towards ambitious sustainability goals.

With over 10 years of experience as a real estate sustainability specialist, Edward comes from a consultancy background and has worked with many of the leading real estate investment managers to drive progress across the industry.

As well as being a member of the AREF ESG & Impact Investing Committee, Edward is a member of the ULI Sustainability Council. He holds an MSc in Environmental Management from Nottingham Trent University.

Alice is ESG Manager at Columbia Threadneedle Investments for its Real Estate (EMEA) division, working hand in hand with the Head of Sustainability (Real Estate EMEA).
Prior to this, she worked as senior analyst at Longevity Partners, a consulting firm dedicated to decarbonise real estate. As part of her work with Longevity Partners, Alice also worked as secondee at Tristan Capital Partners, acting as Sustainability Advisor. Prior to orienting her career in the real estate industry that she is passionate about, Alice worked as a Contractor at the United Nations Environment Programme (Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity) in Montreal, Canada. Alice holds a Master of Science (MSc) from the London School of Economics and Political Science in Environment and Development, and a Bachelor degree from McGill University in International Development with Economics focus and Communications.

Ann joined CBRE Investment Management in 2016 and is the Portfolio Manager for the CBRE UK Affordable Housing Fund, responsible for portfolio management, overseeing the team and day-to-day running of the Fund. Ann has worked on the Fund since its inception and focuses on capital raise, Impact/sustainability strategy and implementation, and executing transactions. Ann also works on CBRE UK Property PAIF where her responsibilities include transactions, asset management and ESG. Prior to this, she trained as a graduate at Savills.

Ann previously sat on the AREF FutureGen Committee (2018-2023) and is currently on the AREF ESG/Impact Investing Committee. Ann is a Member of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors and is also FCA-approved, holding her Investment Management Certificate since 2019. She is a Certified Person under the FCA’s Senior Managers & Certification Regime (SMCR). Ann graduated from the University of Cambridge in 2014 where she obtained a Bachelor of Arts in Land Economy.

Rachel is responsible for working with a number of AREF committees, including the Research, Corporate Governance and ESG & Impact Investing Committees.

Previous to joining, Rachel worked as an independent investment management professional in real estate and prior to this she spent 11 years at Aviva Investors in the Real Estate Team as a Strategist and six years at Henderson Global Investors. 

Rachel has taken on a number of projects for AREF over the last few years, including the End of Fund Life Project, the Fund Structures Report, the History of AREF and also worked on the Open Ended Fund Pricing Project, in conjunction with INREV.