ESSENSYS - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Chartered Accountant
- Chief Operating Officer
Alan joined the Group in September 2017. Alan is a chartered accountant with nearly 30 years' experience in various financial, general management and directorship roles in professional services, private equity investment and industry. This included the start-up of a flexible workspace operator whilst at a venture capital business, its private equity backed management buyout whilst CFO and then as CEO of that business whilst it was listed on AIM. Most recently, prior to his appointment at the Group, he was as Chief Commercial Officer of IWG plc's UK operation.
Job Titles:
- Non - Executive Director
- Members
Alex joined the Board in January 2020. She is an international real estate advisor, and recognised expert in the UK's Build to Rent sector, with 15 years' experience across the private, government and non-profit sectors. Since 2016 she has been Fund Director at PfP Capital, the fund and asset management arm of Places for People, overseeing a UK-wide residential strategy. Places for People Group is one of the UK's largest property management, development, regeneration and leisure companies with c.£4.5bn of fixed assets and c.£830m turnover in 2019. Previously she founded and led an international consultancy business advising real estate clients such as Grainger plc, Grosvenor, MSCI and the European Investment Bank on corporate strategy, innovation and operations (2012-2017). Prior to that Alex was Vice President and Research Director at the Urban Land Institute (2007-2011), the global real estate non-profit research and education organisation. Alexandra is a published author and editor of over 30 books and reports on real estate and serves on numerous industry committees. Alex is a member of the Audit and Remuneration Committees.
Job Titles:
- Chief Information Officer
- Co - Founder
- Co - Founder of Essensys Along With Mark Furness
Barry is the co-founder of essensys along with Mark Furness and Bryn Sadler. It all started with a few pints in a pub chatting about how to improve service delivery and customer service with innovative solutions to common challenges. Barry has extensive knowledge and expertise in the delivery of technology solutions. He has a range of experience from technical consultancy for ISPs to managing pre-sales for a leading VoIP provider. Following a seven-year stint as essensys COO, Barry now focuses on the information systems, looking at how the company can work smarter, grow, and scale though process automation. He is also responsible for IT governance, compliance, and supports the day-to-day operation of service delivery as well as essensys' rapidly expanding customer base.
Bryn is the SVP of essensys Labs, the latest initiative from essensys to drive disruption and innovation in workplace technology. His expertise has been guiding the application of emerging technologies to enhance our product offering and stay at the forefront of fast-evolving market requirements. Prior to leading essensys Labs, Bryn was Chief Technical Officer at essensys, where he oversaw all development and engineering. Since inception, Bryn has been involved in the creation and advancement of essensys technology. He co-founded the company along with Mark Furness and Barry Clark in 2006.
Charles joined the Board in May 2019. Charles is a chartered accountant with over two decades experience in senior and board level positions in private and public growth and digital technology businesses. These included as CEO of Market Tech Holdings plc, a property and digital technology group which he led from successful IPO to AIM through to its subsequent takeover, and as Group CEO at NetPlay TV, the interactive gaming company. Among others, Charles is a non-executive director of Mysale Group Plc, a leading international online retailer quoted on AIM, and Highcroft Investments plc, a REIT listed on the main list of the London Stock Exchange. Charles chairs the Audit Committee. External Appointments In addition to being Non-executive Director of essensys, Charles is currently the non-executive chairman of Highcroft Investments PLC's where he also holds the position of chairman of the nomination committee and audit committees.
Chenai joined essensys in May 2022. She is an experienced strategy and transformation executive, and has a demonstrated history of working with the top teams of some of the world's largest organisations to successfully craft and execute their vision. Gondo joins from British Land, a UK-based real estate investment trust, where she was Senior Strategy Executive, and responsible for crafting corporate and sector strategy, researching and implementing innovative solutions in real estate. Prior to British Land, she worked at McKinsey & Company for over four years. She is also a Board Member of the UK PropTech Association
David Kinnaird is a flexible workspace and technology specialist. His expertise and practical knowledge of the occupier experience has positioned him as trusted partner to our customers. Prior to joining essensys in 2015, he served as the Operations Director at Avanta Serviced Office Group before it was acquired by Regus. He was instrumental in driving their impressive growth, including an overseas expansion and the complete roll out of over 25 new sites. David's career began in the British Army and he later progressed to senior IT operations management roles at the UK's Ministry of Defence, British Telecom and MWB Business Exchange.
Elizabeth joined the Board in January 2020. Elizabeth has held leadership roles in the real estate and financial services sectors for the past 25 years in New York and London, most recently as founder and CEO of Echo Juliette (a workplace investment consultancy), and before that at The Blackstone Group, Deutsche Bank, AXA Financial and A.T. Kearney. She was Managing Director and Global COO of Blackstone's $15bn Real Estate Debt Strategies division from 2016 to 2018, and Managing Director and Global COO of a variety of Deutsche Bank businesses including its Risk Division (2014-16), Structured Finance (2010-2014) and Commercial Real Estate (2005-2010). Elizabeth currently serves on the Board of FS KKR Capital, the NYSE-listed business development company with a $3bn market capitalisation. Elizabeth chairs the Remuneration Committee. External Appointments In addition to being a Non-executive Director of essensys, Elizabeth is director and founder of Echo Juliette LLC and a non-executive director of FS KKR Capital Corp. and Crosswind Capital, LLC.
Job Titles:
- Chief Executive Officer, Asia Pacific
- Commercial Real Estate Executive
Eric Schaffer is an entrepreneurial commercial real estate executive who has led teams in different industry functions and asset classes. He has deep experience in Asia and has structured and led over $2B USD in real estate transactions. Prior to joining essensys, Eric was Head of APAC for WeWork's Real Estate Advisory function. He has also held leadership positions at multiple firms, including Cushman & Wakefield. He holds an MBA from Columbia Business School and BA from Emory University.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Executives Team
- CEO of UK
- Chief Executive Officer, UK & Europe
James Lowery is CEO of UK and Europe for essensys. Prior to essensys, James co-founded and scaled British Land's flexible workspace business, Storey. Growing a fully integrated flexible workspace business from within a leading UK property company has given James a deep understanding of evolving customers needs, and the critical role technology plays in meeting them.
Job Titles:
- Chief Product & Technology Officer
James Shannon has a storied career as an entrepreneur and technology leader. He possesses a deep passion for applying his knowledge and experience to create innovative and inspiring products. His experience includes the development of large-scale cloud services, award-winning mobile apps, integrated smart devices and cutting-edge consumer hardware for leading global brands. James leads the vision and strategic direction of the essensys platform. With extensive experience in enterprise SaaS and product development, James plays a key role at essensys in enhancing the user experience for flexible workspace operators and occupiers alike.
Job Titles:
- Chief Executive Officer, North America
Jeremy is a seasoned executive with over 25 years of experience in the real estate and technology sectors. Most recently, Jeremy was the Global Head of Real Estate for Knotel where he grew and oversaw a portfolio of 5.5MM sq ft of flexible office space across 250 locations in 17 cities around the world. Prior to Knotel, he was COO of Oasis Hospitality, a short-term vacation rental company, and he founded tansler.com, a proptech company for booking short-term vacation rentals. His real estate career includes the acquisition, development and management of numerous commercial real estate projects both as a Principal and within senior roles at Fireman Capital Partners and Acadia Realty Trust.
Job Titles:
- Chairman
- Member of the Board
- Non - Executive Chairman
- Independent Non - Executive Chairman
- Non - Executive Chairman of the Board of Directors
Jon was appointed as non-executive chairman of the Board of directors in May 2019 and has extensive experience in running software businesses in the US and Europe, including the UK. He is an experienced company director, having held multiple board positions, including London Bridge Software Holdings plc, a public company, where he was CEO. Jon has an MBA from MIT, and is a Chartered Engineer and a Chartered Management Accountant. He is a founder of LBS Properties Ltd, a property development management company focused on the residential and commercial sectors of the Central London market. Jon is also a founder of a venture capital fund, The Technology and Innovation fund LP, focused on the B2B software sector. Jon is a member of the Remuneration and Audit Committees.
The Board is currently comprised of two Executive and four Non-Executive Directors. Jon Lee is the independent Non-Executive Chairman and there are three other independent Non-Executive Directors, namely Charles Butler, Elizabeth Sandler and Alexandra Notay. Mark Furness (Chief Executive Officer) and Alan Pepper (Chief Financial Officer) are the Group's Executive Directors. The Executive Directors work full time for the business. The Board is satisfied that it has a suitable balance between independence on the one hand, and knowledge of the Group on the other.
Job Titles:
- Chief People Officer
- Commercial Business HR Leader
Kally is a true commercial business HR leader with over 25 years' experience driving inspirational approaches to enable organisational change and human capital management at international and globally scaled technology led businesses. She was most recently VP, Talent & Organizational Development at Zebra Technologies, a $4bn revenue global technology business, where she led their global talent function, and previously served as HR leader for EMEA. Prior to Zebra Technologies she held various senior HR and leadership roles at Xerox, American Express and Yellow Pages Sales Ltd (BT). In this newly created role of Chief People Officer, Kally joins essensys' Executive and Operating Board, and will lead on all HR and human capital matters across the group, including talent development, culture, employee engagement, inclusion and diversity.
Job Titles:
- Chief Executive Officer
- Founder
Mark is the CEO of essensys, the intelligent digital backbone for commercial real estate. He has over 16 years of experience in building global SaaS and IT organizations. With a focus on automation and self-service, he founded essensys in 2006 to change the way space providers deliver services and meet occupier requirements in the office sector. Mark is passionate about innovation, customer success and company culture. He is a determined leader and a visionary, guiding essensys to a public listing on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange in May of 2019.
Sarah was appointed to the Board of Directors in May 2022. She is an experienced finance professional having held numerous senior positions. She has extensive experience, including spending the last five years in a number of senior roles within Telefonica UK (now Virgin Media O2), as Operations Finance Director, Commercial Finance Director, as well as two years as Chief Financial Officer of giffgaff where she oversaw significant revenue and profit growth. Sarah qualified as a Chartered Accountant in 2002 with PwC, and latterly was a Director in their Transaction Services, Capital Markets team, leading all aspects of listed company transactions including acquisitions, disposals, IPOs and fund-raisings.