Public Policy Committee Biographies

Anthony is Chair of AREF's Public Policy Committee. .

Anthony joined Excellion Capital in March 2023 as Director, Real Estate.  Prior to joining Excellion he was a consultant for a boutique capital raiser and held a senior role in a Peer 2 Peer lending business.  At UBS from 2009 to March 2020 was Head of Real Estate Debt EMEA and Portfolio Manager for UBS-PREMF where he was head of RE Debt-EMEA ex Switzerland This senior debt fund deployed its equity 1.4 times and as at September 2019 was showing an IRR at portfolio level of > 8%.
Anthony is both a Fellow of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants and the Royal institution of Chartered Surveyors. 

Louise is a vice president at State Street Trustees Limited (SSTL) working across the regulatory and technical and client management teams.

Louise joined State Street in June 2018 as a relationship manager within AIS, the firm’s alternative investments division, with responsibility for a portfolio of European clients. Prior to this, from September 2015, Louise was an associate director at a London-based capital introductions firm specialising in alternative investments. Louise previously spent six years at a large US hedge fund, SAC Capital, latterly as vice president of marketing and investor relations in EMEA.

Before moving into the financial services sector Louise was a policy advisor at the British Chambers of Commerce. Louise started her career as a parliamentary researcher and has a BA (Hons) in Politics from Exeter University.

Taggart leads Government Affairs in the EMEA region for PGIM, a leading global asset manager with $1.3T of assets under management (fixed-income, liquid alternatives, real estate, private credit equities). Taggart helps the firm navigate an increasingly complex regulatory landscape and seek policies to enable PGIM to better serve its investors.

Previously Taggart served as Managing Director and Head of EU Government Affairs at Managed Funds Association (MFA), a global trade body representing the alternative asset management sector. From 2011-2022, Taggart led J.P. Morgan Chase & Co.’s Brussels Government Relations office. From 2008-2011, Taggart served as a Parliamentary Assistant in the European Parliament. Taggart served on the Board of Directors of the American Chamber of Commerce to the European Union (AmCham EU).

John Forbes is an independent consultant advising real estate investment managers, investors and others in the real estate industry in the rapidly changing areas of product development, governance and regulatory matters for real estate funds.  He has advised on the restructuring of high profile open and closed-ended real estate funds in the UK and elsewhere in Europe, as well as the establishment of new funds. He has advised service providers to the real estate investment management industry on the strategic implications of regulatory and other changes.  Prior to setting up John Forbes Consulting LLP in 2013, he spent over twenty-five years with PwC, where he led the firm's Real Estate Industry Practice in Europe, the Middle-East and Africa across all of the firm's services to the real estate industry.

 John is the chairman of the Independent Supervisory Board of the UBS Triton Property Fund, independent chair of the Urban Splash Residential Fund and non executive chairman of Ginkgo Advisor UK Limited.

Nick is co-head of Hogan Lovells investment funds group. He has extensive experience of advising on the structuring, establishment, marketing and reconstruction of a wide variety of investment funds, and on associated legal and regulatory issues.

Nick's practice covers both closed ended and open ended funds. He has a particular focus on real estate funds, private equity funds, infrastructure funds and other alternative investment classes. He also has advised on the launch of several exchange traded funds (ETFs).

Ben Robins is a partner at Mourant Ozannes in Jersey with extensive experience in investment funds, offshore capital markets, real estate and structured finance.  Having qualified as an English solicitor with Speechly Bircham in London, he returned to Jersey to join Mourant Ozannes in 1997. He became a partner in 2002 and has headed its global funds practice area since 2008.  Ben has been a frequent participant in local industry working groups looking at key regulatory changes, including the implementation of the EU Alternative Investment Manager's Directive (AIFMD).  He was appointed Chairman of the Jersey Funds Association in July 2013.

Melville's practice focuses on the launch and operation of funds, including funds which hold underlying real estate investments in the UK as well as internationally. The funds have attracted institutional, private and retail investors.

In addition to servicing clients, he has been involved in representing industry bodies in their dialogue with the Treasury and the FCA. He is a regular contributor to the real estate press.

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.