Outstanding Fund Achievement

Robert Boag is an independent consultant. He was a portfolio manager within Lothian Pension Fund`s investment team with responsibility for the management and oversight of the indirect property assets within Lothian and other collaborative Funds.

Prior to joining Lothian, Robert was responsible for the strategy and performance of UK Commercial Property Trust, a FTSE 250 listed property investment company managed by Ignis Asset Management.

His professional roots are in UK commercial property asset management where he has worked as property and investment manager with both Scottish Metropolitan and Haslemere Estates.

Robert graduated from the University of Paisley in 1986 with a BSc Degree (with commendation) in Land Economics and gained his IPF Diploma in Property Investment in 2010.

He is a member of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) and The Investment Property Forum (IPF).

Jacqui is AREF’s Company Secretary and provides policy guidance and secretariat services to AREF’s Board and Management Committee as well as many of AREF's committees and working groups.

Jacqui joined AREF in 2014 after working for over 25 years in fund compliance, client relationships and administration in the trustee and depositary sector.

Dugal Hunt is a Director within the CBRE Global Investment Partners team with responsibility for client portfolio management and sourcing and undertaking due diligence on investment opportunities.

He has 14 years property industry experience and has 11 years of detailed knowledge and experience of investing in real estate funds in the UK and Continental Europe.  In addition to underwriting new investment opportunities, Dugal has been able to use his industry contacts to actively source investments in existing funds on the secondary market.  He has been successful in negotiating attractive entry pricing in a number secondary market transactions on behalf of clients of GIP.

Dugal joined CB Richard Ellis Investors in March 2004.  Prior to this he has worked at Investment Property Databank on the Portfolio Analysis Service for 3.5 years.  Dugal gathered valuable experience during his time at IPD, understanding and analysing portfolio performance statistics.

Dugal is a member of the investment property forum and he has been approved by the FCA to conduct investment business.  He also holds the Chartered Financial Analyst designation. He is a graduate of University of Bristol with a degree in Geography.

Jonathan has extensive experience in the field of sustainability. Before he started at Knight Frank he led the ESG and Sustainability advisory services team within the BNP Paribas Real Estate UK division of Property Management.  This involved guiding clients (from C-suite to asset level) on ESG risks & opportunities, coordination of corporate reporting such as GRESB, UNPRI and EPRA sBPR, supporting clients understand how to make progress on Net Zero and in aligning with TCFD requirements. 

Jonathan also oversaw the centralised service line delivery of ESG related projects geared at driving sustainability performance across the client base.  These projects covered portfolio and asset level technical assessments such as sourcing property utilities efficiency opportunities (energy, water, waste & health & wellbeing) as well as due diligence assessments to understand the steps towards guiding landlords on steps to reaching Net Zero on both a portfolio and individual asset basis.  The BNPPRE sustainability team function also supported client requests for assessments to review the most appropriate approach to incorporating themes, certification and reviews associated with health & wellbeing, social value, biodiversity net gain, green travel plans and sustainability building certification.

Peter is the Investment Officer for the Medical Defence Union and is a Fellow of the Institute of Actuaries. He is an experienced senior investment professional, has been widely quoted in the investment press and regularly speaks at conferences.

Peter was formerly Head of Manager Research at JLT Employee Benefits and his research specialisms included Bonds, LDI and Property. He has also been a Senior Investment Advisor to pension funds over many years for a wide variety of client and in addition has had experience of being an Independent Trustee.

Peter has been a member of the Society of Pension Professionals (SPP) Investment Committee as well as the Investor Committee of the Association of Real Estate Funds.  He has also been the SPP representative to Debt Management Office quarterly consultation with regard to gilt issuance and End Year consultation with the Commercial Secretary to the Treasury.

Darren is a Senior Fund Manager within LaSalle Global Partner Solutions where he is responsible for portfolio management and underwriting investment opportunities. He has over 15 years of experience in the real estate market. Prior to LaSalle’s acquisition of Aviva Investors’ Real Estate Multi-Manager business, Darren was a Fund Manager at Aviva and has managed both separate accounts and open-ended pooled fund vehicles invested across the globe.  Prior to working at Aviva, he worked in direct real estate investment and Research & Strategy at ING Real Estate.

Darren has a BSc in Astrophysics and Astronomy and BSc in Economics and is registered as an Authorised Person by the FCA to conduct investment management activity.

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.