Adrian Benedict announced as the new Chair of AREF

Adrian is the current Chair of the Association of Real Estate Funds, and previously Chaired the AREF Corporate Governance Committee.

Adrian currently holds the position of Head of Real Estate Solutions at Fidelity International. He is responsible for delivering new client solutions, innovation and overall business development activities. Adrian has been advising and working within the real estate industry for more than two decades.

Having originally trained as a Civil Engineer he qualified as a Chartered Accountant with PWC before joining UBS Investment Bank. During this latter role he specialised in providing M&A, IPO and debt advice for listed property companies across the globe. For the latter half of his career, Adrian has worked in real estate asset management roles covering capital raising, fund structuring and debt financing. He is a passionate advocate for real assets and the important role it can play as part of a long term savings solution but also how the industry can improve to deliver its benefits to a wider client audience

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 chair of AREF's Board. She also sits on Aberdeen Investment's Global Inclusion Committee, 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).

Deborah Lloyd is the former Chairman of the Association of Real Estate Funds until 2020, and until 2015 was the Vice Chairman of the Management Board of INREV. She is also a non-executive board member of Kames Target Healthcare Fund, a consultant to the student accommodation fund manager, Curlew Capital and a member of the University of London’s property committee.

Until 2016 Deborah, for 23 years, was a Partner at law firm Nabarro LLP, now part of CMS, where she co-founded the Funds and Indirect Real Estate team, which is ranked tier 1 in Legal 500. At Nabarro she set up and advised on funds for institutional and private equity fund managers including Aviva Investors, Standard Life, Henderson, Knight Frank, Cromwell, Kames Capital, iQ, Catalyst Capital, Rockspring, Aberdeen (SWIP), IMPAX, Curlew Capital, Eskmuir Asset Management. Deborah has a legal background in direct real estate, so understands real estate as an asset class from a development and leasing perspective.