Governance & Board

Anne began her real estate career at Aberdeen Investments in 1999. She was appointed Head of Real Estate Research & Strategy in 2007 and over her tenure has seen their real estate assets under management quadruple to more than £40bn.
 
Anne has been instrumental in the modernisation of the Aberdeen Investments real estate business over the last 26yrs, embedding and driving a research driven approach which underpins the overall performance of their underlying funds, the launch of a number of innovative products including global real estate strategies and UK long income franchise, and the management and development of world class real estate investment teams.
 
Anne’s experience across all real estate asset classes, including debt and indirects, and deep understanding of the role of ESG in real estate investing, is essential in her role as Global Head of Real Estate where clients are increasingly aware of the broader benefits of real estate as an asset class.
 
Anne is a previous Chair of AREF, is a board member of Aberdeen Investment's Alternative Funds Board (regulated by FCA) and a board member of Aberdeen Investments Ireland Limited (regulated by CBI).

Ben Sanderson is Managing Director and Head of the UK business for Sentinel Real Estate – a New York City headquartered multi-family specialist fund manager with $9 billion AUM. Ben has over 25 years previous experience in global real estate, investing in private and public real estate across both equity and debt.

Prior to joining Sentinel in December 2025, Ben worked for Aviva Investors where he was Managing Director leading the global real estate and infrastructure businesses.  His role involved delivering investment performance and managing the implementation of real estate and infrastructure investments, investing across a range of risk profiles including the establishment and execution of new residential investment programs across the UK and Europe.

Edmund is an experienced real estate business leader with deep knowledge of corporate management and governance, and of real estate markets and equity and debt capital markets, both public and private. He acts as Senior Adviser and non Executive Director to a range of property businesses and was an independent NED of AREF from 2021 to 2026.

He was the Managing Director (and Partner) of Rockspring Property Investment Managers from 2009-2018, responsible for the strategic direction and day to day operations of the business, and was Senior Managing Director, Head of Fund Management and a member of the Senior Leadership team and Operational Board of PATRIZIA from 2018-2021.  He has extensive experience of chairing and participating in Investment Committees and other key corporate and fund governance boards and committees, including ESG committees.

Before joining the real estate investment management industry he had a long career in investment banking, and he was European Head of Real Estate Investment Banking at both UBS Investment Bank and Lehman Brothers. There, and as an independent consultant following the Global Financial Crisis, he advised a wide range of companies and investors on capital raising, corporate finance strategy and M&A transactions from 1987-2009.

Jessica has worked in real estate investment for over 20 years – starting out her career at BNP Paribas, before joining Deutsche Bank’s real estate funds business in 2004. She enjoyed a successful, varied career with Deutsche Bank and DWS; first leading transaction teams culminating in €12bn of transactions, and subsequently running European fund management for international investors.
 
Jessica was a pioneer and trusted portfolio manager for the wave of inward capital flows from Asian institutional clients from 2011. She built a multi-billion assets under management (AuM) business for Deutsche Bank, utilising her skills in business building, leadership and investment solutions. In 2023, she became the CEO of DWS UK, overseeing 500 staff and over €200bn AuM across Global Alternatives and Passive public market strategies.
 
Jessica stepped out of DWS in 2024 to Co-Found of Aboria Capital. As CEO, her ambition is to create an innovative, leading vertically integrated partner for investors in the European Living sector market.
In July 2024, Jessica became the President of the British Property Federation (BPF) and joined the board of INREV.

Jo was a long-term member of the Investment Property Forum (IPF) and chaired IPF’s Future Leaders committee since 2020. Jo is now chairing RE:Futures committees who will be responsible for driving the programme for all those within the Real Estate industry with up to 15 years’ experience. 

Jo’s day job is a Director at SEGRO, with responsibility for the Thames Valley portfolio, a £3bn plus commercial portfolio predominately based at Slough Trading Estate. Jo leads the full lifecycle of the portfolio with responsibility for asset management, leasing and development. Prior to joining SEGRO in 2021, Jo worked for CBRE, Deloitte and Drivers Jonas. 

Madeleine has a rich background in real estate and banking having worked at Lloyds Banking Group since 2014. She held the position of Head of Corporate Sector Coverage looking after clients in sectors such as Infrastructure, Energy, Retail, Leisure, Health, Manufacturing and Technology and was also Head of the Real Estate & Housing team there. Prior to that Madeleine was the Head of International Clients at Deutsche Pfandbriefbank, covering Europe wide real estate financing. 

Madeleine sits on the board of Derwent London as a Non-executive director.  In addition to the board, she sits on the Nominations and Risk committees alongside chairing the Responsible Business Committee. She was the chair of CREFC Europe and on the board there from 2014-2019. 

Ahead of launching Real Estate:UK, Melanie joined the British Property Federation as Chief Executive in January 2015 having previously spent nine years as Director General of the Food and Drink Federation. 

Melanie began her working life as a Police Constable in the Metropolitan Police Service and subsequently held a number of senior roles in the civil service.

Her role is to champion a diverse, successful and sustainable UK real estate sector recognised for the positive economic and social benefits it delivers to communities across the country.

Melanie is a Trustee of the property industry charity LandAid and Chair of the Council of the University of Essex. She was awarded a CBE in 2015 for services to the food and drink industry.

Paolo Alonzi is a Director of Real Estate: UK (RE:UK) and served on its Shadow Board, which oversaw the creation of RE:UK through the merger of AREF, the BPF and the IPF.

Paolo is a qualified Chartered Accountant and Real Estate Chief Operating Officer at Aberdeen. As a member of the Real Estate leadership team he provides strategic leadership across a wide range of disciplines working closely with Aberdeen’s Global Head of Real Estate in the development and delivery of business strategy.

He has led a number of complex, high-profile initiatives, including major product launches, the industry-leading merger of two PAIFs, and the development of a commercial real estate lending platform. He has played a key role in building a leading real estate ESG capability and in shaping operating models and transaction activity across the platform. More recently, he has been the lead on a multi-year transformation of the Real Estate platform, spanning organisational design, process optimisation, supplier consolidation and data and technology, with a particular focus on AI and automation.

Paolo served as a Non-Executive Director of the Association of Real Estate Funds (AREF) from 2018 to 2026, where he was closely involved in industry engagement with Government and regulators, including work on open-ended real estate funds and the development of the Long-Term Asset Fund (LTAF).

Rob leads the investment strategy function across L&G’s private markets platform, focusing on aligning research insights with commercial growth and client solutions and has supported the expansion of L&G’s business across real estate, private credit, and infrastructure, including the launch of new strategies in clean energy and US real estate. 

As well as serving on investment committees across private credit, real estate, and infrastructure to drive decision quality and strategic consistency, Rob was a board member of the Investment Property Forum (IPF) between 2023 and 2026.

Vanessa will be joining RE:UK as CEO later in the year. She is a business leader and innovator with nearly 25 years of extensive experience in corporate strategy, research, data, and innovation across a variety of real estate sectors and geographies. 

Immediately before joining RE:UK she headed up the research and strategy function at BNP Paribas Real Estate’s UK business and was a member of the executive leadership team, where she was recognized as an AI pioneer and technology-forward thinker, committed to fostering a culture of openness and transparency. Vanessa is also a long-standing supported of the Urban Land Institute (ULI), having served as its UK Chair between 2019 and 2021 and remaining a trustee to this day.