Investors’ Outreach Initiative: Real Assets Roundtable on "ESG as the New Age Mantra"

Sigrid is the Chief Executive Officer of Asia Pacific Real Assets Association (APREA). Based in Singapore, she is responsible for overseeing the strategic direction, initiatives and operations of the association across Asia Pacific. Under her leadership, APREA repositioned to an industry trade group focusing on real estate and infrastructure.

Sigrid joined APREA’s executive team in January 2019.

Prior to APREA, she served as Managing Director of Asia Pacific Research and Advisory Services of Cushman & Wakefield (C&W) from 2010 through 2018, where she was responsible for research, thought leadership, strategy formulation and client management.  Before relocating to Singapore, she was based in Washington, D.C. and led C&W’s U.S. research group in the Mid-Atlantic region, overseeing all aspects of market research activities in the Washington, DC; Virginia; Suburban Maryland, Baltimore; and Philadelphia areas. Prior to joining C&W, Sigrid served as a Senior Economist for the National Association of Realtors (NAR). In that position, she developed NAR’s office, warehouse, retail, multi-family housing, and international research programs.

A recognized expert in global economic, public policy and real estate issues, Sigrid is a frequent speaker at industry events.  Her commentary on commercial and residential real estate markets is also regularly featured in a wide array of global publications, including the Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, Bloomberg, New York Times and Reuters. Additionally, she has made several television appearances on financial networks and radio such as CNBC, Bloomberg, CNN, National Public Radio and Channel News Asia.

Sigrid holds a Master of Business Administration from Cornell University’s Johnson Graduate School of Management and a Master’s degree in Economics from Pennsylvania State University. She is a member of several civic groups including the Rotary Club of Raffles City in Singapore, where she has served in various leadership positions, and serves in the Executive Committee of the Crohn’s & Colitis Society of Singapore.

Piet’s experience bridges theory and practice. He is a widely respected teacher and researcher specialized in real estate markets, finance, and investment. He is also the co-founder of three companies (GPR, Finance Ideas, GRESB), and has had (advisory) board positions with organizations like EPRA, IPD, NAREIT, Redevco, Oppenheim Immobilien, among others. He has extensive experience as an international workshop and conference organizer, facilitator and speaker, both for industry and academic audiences.

Piet Eichholtz is Professor of Real Estate and Finance at Maastricht University and founding partner at Finance Ideas, where he is active in the Institutional Investor / ESG practice.

Piet´s research is on the edge between the built environment and financial markets. He studies real estate investment practices and performance, real estate and ESG, urban development and housing. He has published in journals such as the Review of Financial Studies, the American Economic Review, Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Real Estate Economics, etc. He also publishes in newspapers and maganizes, and is often interviewed about the real estate markets. He is the co-author of the leading graduate real estate textbook: Commercial Real Estate Analysis and Investment. Besides his research, he is also an award-winning educator.

Piet has also built up a solid reputation outside of academia, and has co-founded the real estate index provider GPR as well as GRESB, besides being a (advisory) board member of organizations such as IPD, the KLM pension fund, Loyalis, Redevco, Oppenheim Immobilien, the  Dutch construction workers’ pension fund, and Bouwfonds.

Piet has extensive experience in discussion and conference facilitation, having chaired the annual European IPD conference and the IPE Real Assets conference for more than 10 years, as well as numerous other conferences and discussion fora, both off- and online, ranging from a few participants to over 1000. He has also been active in the organization of academic conferences such as the international conference of the American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association in 1998, the European Financial Management conference in 2014, and a long-run annual workshop in partnership with the National University of Singapore, MIT, and the University of Cambridge. He has an extensive global network, and is well-known both in academic circles and in the real estate and financial industries.

Academic positions

Professor of Real Estate and Finance, Maastricht University  1998 - now

Chairperson of the Finance Department, Maastricht University  2005 - 2014

Professor of Real Estate, University of Amsterdam    1996 - 2005

Assistant and Associate Professor of Finance, Maastricht University   1994 - 1998

Selected industry positions

Founding partner Finance Ideas  2004 - now

Secretary of the Board, MeJudice (the Dutch online forum for economic discussion)  2014 - now

Non-executive director, IPD   2007 - 2012

Member, NAREIT research council  2007 - 2012

Academic fellow, Urban Land Institute  2002 - 2009

Member, ABP Strategic Investment Policy Group   1989 - 1992

Selected societal and university services

2013 - 2017  Chairperson, Maastricht University’s Studium Generale Committee

Studium Generale is a key knowledge transfer podium between Maastricht University and civil society

2013 - now   Member and Chairperson, Editorial Advisory Board Observant

Observant of  Maastricht University’s weekly newspaper, published both on- and offline  

2004   Property Advisor, UN Good Offices Mission, Cyprus

During the most recent serious peace effort on Cyprus, Piet was a co-author of the Annan-II plan, with chief responsibility for the property market solutions relating to reunification. 

1998  Founder of the Amsterdam University MSc program in Real Estate Finance

Priyaranjan is Managing Director and Head of Singapore for Alvarium Investments. He also serves on the firm's Global Policy, Private Markets, Global Macro and ESG committees. Priyaranjan is a highly respected global real estate professional with almost 25 years of advisory and investing experience across 40+ markets in 20+ countries involving transactions of $10BN+.  He has lived and worked in India, US and Singapore.

An active advocate for green building and sustainability for over two decades, Esther has been instrumental in establishing CDL’s leadership in sustainability. It is ranked top real estate company on the 2020 Global 100 Most Sustainable Corporations in the World and is also the only CDP A-List company for climate strategy and water security in SE Asia. Key ESG initiatives she has spearheaded include publishing the first sustainability report in Singapore in 2008; issuing the first green bond by a Singaporean company in 2017 and pioneering an SDG Innovation Loan in Singapore in 2019. A forerunner in embracing the UN SDGs, Esther was conferred 2018 SDG Pioneer for Green Infrastructure and A Low Carbon Economy by the UN Global Compact. She sits on the boards or advisory platforms of several organisations, including World Green Building Council, Global Reporting Initiative, GRESB Asian Real Estate Benchmark Committee and UNEP FI Real Estate Work Group. She chairs the Asia Pacific Real Estate Association’s Sustainability and ESG Committee and Co-Chairs the Urban Land Institute Singapore’s Sustainability Product Council.

唐安琪女士于商业地产领域从业14年，负责中海地产旗下体量高达600万平方米的商办资产的开发及管理。其主导建立的国际化全域商办资产管理品牌——“COOC中海商务”，将中海商办资产业务引领入全面品牌化发展的新阶段，该品牌已成为国内最大的单一业权写字楼发展运营品牌，所管项目遍布近30个全球经济活跃城市；创立中海自由办公品牌OFFICEZIP，捕获和承接办公新趋势，建立多元办公生态体系，现为国内业态最丰富的自由办公品牌，与COOC、中海云商、Officare形成客群互补、产品互补的全商务生态价值圈。

As the Deputy General Manager of China Overseas Commercial Properties CO., Ltd. (COCP), Angel Tang leads the assets management and leasing effort of COCP’s 6 million-square-meter Grade A office buildings across China and overseas, with her 14 years’ experience in the field of commercial real estate.  

As a flagship of the global commercial office asset management brand, COOC(China Overseas Office Capital)was established under Tang’s leadership, it has catapulted COCP’s Office assets business segment into a new phase of comprehensive brand development.

COOC has become one of the largest single ownership office building development brands in China, developing and operating Grade A office buildings across nearly 30 cities.

In order to capture the new trend of work style, smart working brand-OFFICEZIP was established to create a new office ecosystem with a variety of supporting formats for life and business, forming a ecological value circle with complementary customers and products with COOC, Officloud and Officare.

Diamond Realty Management Inc. ("DREAM") has appointed  Mr. Ryuta Takeuchi to be a President & CEO effective on April 1, 2021, and will be replacing Mr. Katsumi Nakamoto, as its representative to APREA Japan Chapter Board effective immediately.  Mr. Takeuchi joined Mitsubishi Corporation in April 1996 and spent less than 20 years in general domestic real estate development and domestic real estate finance businesses. During that period, he has served for one year as Part-time director of Diamond Realty Management Inc. since March 2013, seconded to UBS Global Asset Management (UK) Ltd. and MC Asset Management Europe Limited located in London since February 2014, and then served as Managing Director & CEO of MC Asset Management Europe Limited since September 2015, responsible for the management of real estate funds and real estate debt funds in Europe. In January 2017, he returned to Mitsubishi Corporation, where he was responsible for corporate planning as General Manager, Head of Business Planning Unit, Group CEO office, Urban Development Group. He was seconded to and was appointed President and CEO of Diamond Realty Management Inc. in April 2021.

Mr. Mike Holland is Chief Executive Officer of Embassy Office Parks, India’s first and only listed REIT, sponsored by Embassy Group and Blackstone. Embassy REIT listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange in April 2019. In April 2020, the business had a market capitalisation in excess of USD 3 bn.

Mike has worked in Asia since 1995 and has lived in India for close to two decades. He currently resides in Bangalore. He is also a board member of a number of charitable organizations with a focus on disability and education.

Vincent van Bijleveld is Managing Director of the Global Real Estate Engagement Network (GREEN), a collaborative network of institutional investors that engages with both listed and non-listed real estate companies and funds to accelerate sustainability in the real estate sector and thus reduce their financial and non-financial climate risks. Vincent is also responsible for the sustainable and responsible investing team of Finance Ideas. With this team he advises pension funds on various topics related to sustainable investing. Vincent has years of experience in asset management and the pension sector, including as a partner at Willis Towers Watson, asset manager at Actiam and director at Swiss Life Netherlands

Sharad Gohil is the Managing Director – Asset Management at IndoSpace, India’s largest investor, developer, and manager of Grade A industrial and logistics real estate, with a portfolio of over 37 million square feet across 36 industrial and logistics parks under various stages of development in 9 cities. He joined IndoSpace in 2015 and oversees asset management and debt of all the Funds compromising USD 2.4 billion of equity commitments.

At IndoSpace, he oversees the performance and management of IndoSpace Core, a USD 1.2bn JV with Canadian Pension Plan, where his primary responsibilities include managing and reporting performance in the Board of Directors. Sharad recently successfully led the sourcing, negotiation and execution of INR 1,050cr (USD 140mn) debt refinance across Core Vehicle with HSBC and obtained a Green Loan classification. In addition to the Core platform, he is responsible for the overall performance management of each of the development funds across the business as well as exits, where he was also part of the key senior management fund raising team which successfully raised USD 580mn of equity commitments for ILP Fund III.

Sharad has over 20 years of experience in real estate specialising in asset management and investments across core, value add and development real estate sectors in the U.K, Europe and India. Prior to IndoSpace, Sharad worked for Apollo Global Management Real Estate in India and Europe with its asset management business (Lapithus LLP), as well as, Citigroup Property Investors Asia Pacific, AXA REIM UK and The Portman Estate in London.

He is a Member of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (MRICS) and holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Property Management from Sheffield Hallam University, United Kingdom.