Research Committee Biographies

Mark Clacy-Jones is Head of Real Estate Strategy at abrdn, responsible for a small team producing, guiding and facilitating optimal fund level strategy across the global suite of abrdn Real Estate funds. This role also focuses on understanding the performance drivers of funds and their risk levels. Prior to joining Standard Life Investments in January 2017, Mark spent 9 years at IPD, and subsequently MSCI, working in a range of global research roles including Head of Indices and ultimately Head of Applied Real Estate Research. Mark also had a brief spell setting up a Data & Analytics function for Knight Frank’s Research Team just prior to joining SLI.

 A former Chair of the Society of Property Researchers, Mark is currently Chair of the AREF Research Committee and Chair of the INREV ODCE Working Group.

 Mark holds a BA Economics from Leicester University and a MA Business & Management in Emerging Markets from Reading University.

Alistair is a head of Europe at LaSalle Global Solutions. He moved over from Aviva Investors in 2018, where he was Head of UK Capital GIRE and  a Senior Fund Manager, responsible for a number of key client accounts.  Alistair joined Aviva Investors in March 2009, previously having worked at ING Real Estate for nine years, firstly in the research team and then in the Multi-Manager team.

   
Alistair holds an LLB in Law and an MSc in Management and IT from the University of Leicester.  In 2009 he completed the IPF Diploma.   Alistair is also a member of the INREV Secondary Markets and Liquidity Committee.

Simon is Head of European Research and Strategy for BlackRock Real Assets and has over 25 years’ experience in real estate strategy and research. At BlackRock Simon works alongside investment teams, portfolio management and clients, advising on investment strategy, authoring thought leadership, and articulating house views. Simon also sits on the European Investment Committee for real estate equity and on the Global Investment Committee for value-add real estate.

At BlackRock Simon is closely aligned with the BlackRock Investment Institute leveraging the firm's vast expertise and knowledge, generating proprietary research to provide insights on the global economy, markets, geopolitics and long-term asset allocation.

Previously he was Head of Research for BNP Paribas Real Estate leading a team of economists and forecasters, and European Head of Research & Strategy for DWS’s real assets platform (formerly RREEF).

Ed is responsible for the development and execution of fund and asset investment strategy, deal origination and transaction management, delivery of value enhancement through asset and development management and investor relations across the Fund’s institutional investor base.

Prior to joining Aviva investors, Ed worked at Cushman & Wakefield as Head of UK Investment Valuations where he led a 30-person team advising on institutional portfolio valuations. Ed worked at Cushman & Wakefield for 15 years and previous roles included Head of UK Industrial Valuations and five years in the UK Business Space Investment team.

Ed holds a BA (Hons) in War Studies from King’s College London and a MSc in Estate Management from London South Bank University. He is also a member of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors.

Tom Goodwin is a Principal in the Real Estate Investment Team at Mercer Alternatives and responsible for the investment and research coverage of European and UK real estate strategies, with a focus on long-income and real estate debt. Since joining Mercer in 2014 he has obtained the IMC and the CFA designation.

James is an Investment Analyst at Thriving Investments, responsible for sourcing, analysing, and executing real estate acquisitions for several UK residential fund strategies. In addition to his role in transactions, he works on fund management, research, and reporting activities across portfolios and develops forthcoming funds.

James holds an undergraduate degree from the London School of Economics, is a 2024 MIPIM Challenger, and brings finance and research experience from roles in Europe and the Middle East.

As Head of Research, Simon is responsible for framing the outlook for the economy, as well as the real estate occupier and capital markets. He leads the development of innovative tools based on modern analytical techniques and technologies. Working alongside the senior directors, Simon helps develop the fund and corporate strategies, and working closely with the Investor Relations team to attract new capital from all parts of the world.

Simon has a wealth of experience, having spent 21 years in the industry in various research and strategy leadership roles at companies as diverse as CBRE, Close Investments, CoStar, Experian and Ernst & Young. For the eleven years prior to joining Lothbury, he was Managing Director of European Research & Strategy at LaSalle Investment Management. His primary functions were to monitor the European property markets, define fund strategies, identify acquisition opportunities and bring new sources of global capital to Europe

Kim Politzer joined Fidelity's Real Estate team in March 2018. She leads the European research team and is part of the senior management team. Prior to this, Kim was a Senior Director, and Head of European Research at Invesco Real Estate.

At Fidelity she works closely with the real estate investment team to apply both top down and bottom up research to support strategy for new and existing mandates.

With c.30 years’ experience, Kim began her career as a site researcher for Tesco before moving to Weatherall Green & Smith (now BNP Paribas Real Estate) where she worked in occupier research, specialising in the retail sector, and was also responsible for real estate forecasting across all sectors.

At Invesco, Kim provided a pan-European overview of the real estate market, and was responsible for Invesco’s European Real Estate House View. She sat on the Investment Committee, the Fund Strategy Review Committee and co-chaired the Investment Strategy Group.

Kim has an MA in Geography from the University of California, Los Angeles and an MSc in Econometrics & Forecasting from London Guildhall University.

She is a member of the Society of Property Researchers, the Investment Property Forum and the Society of Business Economists. Kim is also part of the Women Talk Real Estate network.

Ryan is a senior analyst supporting Knight Frank’s Healthcare team, responsible for providing market research, data and commentary on the UK Healthcare real estate market. Prior to this, Ryan’s time within the Aegon Asset Management Global Real Assets Equity team was focused on fund performance, senior debt and market trend reporting as well as Impact investing & Sustainable Real Estate.

Ryan studied Financial Economics at Kingston University and holds the Investment Management Certificate (IMC), the CIMA qualification to certificate level (CIMACertBA) alongside being an Associate member of the RICS (AssocRICS).

Tony is a fund manager in Aegon AM’s property multi manager team with responsibility for developing portfolio strategies, fund research and dealing. He joined Aegon AM in 2012 from ING, where he was a UK fund manager in the ING Real Estate Select team, and has more than 10 years’ experience in the property market.

Tony studied Economics at the London School of Economics and was formerly chair of the IPF/Property Derivatives Interest Group’s technical subcommittee, co-author of the PDIG report “Getting into Property Derivatives”, and oversaw  £350m of property derivative strategies at ING Real Estate.

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.