FutureGen Committee Biographies

Clare the Chair of the Association of Real Estate Funds’ FutureGen Committee and sits on the AREF Management Committee.

Clare is an Associate Director for GRE Finance, a principal real estate lender operating across the residential, commercial and development space. Clare heads up deal origination for the business.

Prior to this Clare worked at Octopus Real Estate for seven years playing a key role for the firms’ commercial real estate debt fund.

Clare graduated in 2016 from Loughborough University with a BSc in Sociology and then graduated in 2021 from Henley Business School with a MSc in Real Estate Investment & Finance. She also holds a Diploma in Property Investment from the Investment Property Forum. She is chartered surveyor, holding the MRICS qualification.

Frankie is Vice-chair of AREF's FutureGen Committee.

Frankie joined Abrdn in July 2023 as a Real Estate ESG Manager working across the European funds, with a particular focus on decarbonisation.

Frankie started her career at Lambert Smith Hampton (LSH) where she trained as a chartered surveyor before specialising in sustainability and setting up the LSH sustainability team. Following LSH, Frankie joined Fiera Real Estate as an Associate Director within the ESG team where she was primarily responsible for leading and implementing the UK ESG strategy.

Frankie holds an MSt in sustainability in the Built Environment from the University of Cambridge, an MSC in Real Estate from the London South Bank University and a BA (Hons) in History from the University of London

Oliver joined Octopus Real Estate in 2020 and is an investment associate. His role includes loan origination, portfolio management, and fund management across a series of debt funds. Prior to joining Octopus Real Estate, Oliver completed the MSc Real Estate at Henley Business School, and he holds a MA in Philosophy & Politics from the University of Edinburgh. Oliver is a member of the RICS.

Alex joined Langham Hall’s Real Estate team in July 2023 where he provides a wide range of administration, accounting, and investor reporting services to multi-jurisdictional funds.

His accountancy career began in Audit in 2020 and has subsequently held roles in Real Estate Debt Advisory and Corporate Finance. His decision to pursue a career in Fund Administration continues to foster his passion for both Real Estate and financial services.

Alex is a graduate of the University of York where he obtained a BA (Hons) in Politics & International Relations.

Will joined CMS (formerly Nabarro) in 2014 and is a Senior Associate in their Funds and Indirect Real Assets team in London. Will advises fund managers, asset managers and investors on a wide range of fund formation, joint venture and M&A matters.

Taryn joined CBRE Investment Management in 2021. Her role includes investment transactions, asset management and fund management across the CBRE UK Property PAIF and two separate account clients.

Prior to CBRE IM, Taryn worked at Cushman & Wakefield.

Taryn hold an MSc in Real Estate from Oxford Brookes University (2017) and is a member of the RICS (2019).

Carine is a Product Manager at Schroders Capital. In her role she supports the UK team with strategic and ongoing client and product management. Prior to this Carine was at CBRE Investment Management and Aviva Investors as a Product Specialist covering long income, European logistics and European value-add strategies.

 Carine graduated from the University of Nottingham with a LLB in Law with South East Asian Law.

Nileena is a funds and regulatory lawyer, specialising in open and closed ended real estate funds, co-investments and joint ventures.

She advises fund managers, institutions and sovereign wealth funds on both the corporate and UK regulatory aspects of the structuring, formation and operation of onshore and offshore funds, authorised real estate funds (PAIFs) and other structured real estate investment vehicles.

Nileena regularly advises clients on the interpretation and implementation of UK and EU financial services rules and regulatory requirements with a particular focus on funds and investment management

Will joined the Townsend Group as an Analyst in April 2021, after completing the MSc, Real Estate at Henley Business School.

The Founded in 1983, The Townsend Group, an Aon Company, is a leading provider of global investment management and advisory services focused exclusively on real estate and real assets. Committed to excellence in investment management and client service, Townsend serves an institutional client base providing custom investment solutions to help meet the needs and objectives of their investment programs. Headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio, the firm has offices in San Francisco, London and Hong Kong.

Jack joined the Alternatives Manager Research team at BlackRock in November 2023. He is responsible for the sourcing, due diligence and monitoring of strategies. Prior to this he spent close to four years at DTZ Investors in the multi manager team, investing in real estate funds in the UK and globally.

He is a graduate of the University of Bristol with a degree in Economics. He holds the Investment Management Certificate and is a level 2 CFA candidate.

Clare is responsible for all aspects of the planning, development and execution of the marketing strategy for AREF. 

Clare leads on event management, liaising with committees and members to schedule, plan and deliver an effective events calendar for the association.  She also has overall responsibility for brand, as well as the design, development and production of marketing across both digital and offline channels, including the website.