Grosvenor

Chairman, Group Executive Director

Peter Vernon is Grosvenor Group's Executive Director with responsibility for the oversight of three of the Group's regional operating companies; Grosvenor Britain & Ireland, Grosvenor Americas and Grosvenor Asia Pacific, as well as for the Group's research function. He is a member of the Grosvenor Group Board and Chair of the Group Executive Committee.

Joining the Grosvenor Britain & Ireland board in 2005, Peter became its Chief Executive in 2008. He stepped down to take on his Group role at the end of 2016.

He is currently a Trustee of Peabody and a Non-Executive Director of Berkeley Group Holdings Plc. He has been a Director of London First, Deputy Chairman of the West End Partnership, a member of the British Property Federation Policy Committee, and of the RSA Insurance Group London Regional Board. He was a member of the Government's Montague Review into the Private Rented Sector, a Commissioner of the City Growth Commission and a member of the Government's Estates Regeneration Panel.

Earlier in his career Peter was a Partner at IBM Business Consulting Services and PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Group Chief Executive

Mark Preston, FRICS, is the Executive Trustee of the Grosvenor Estate with overall responsibility for the Grosvenor family's business interests. He holds the position of Chief Executive of Grosvenor Group to which he was appointed in 2008.

Earlier in his career, and after joining Grosvenor in the UK in 1989, he was seconded to Hong Kong in 1995, returned to the UK to lead Grosvenor's Fund Management operations in 1997, spent four years in San Francisco from 2002, became Chief Executive of Grosvenor Britain & Ireland in 2006 and was appointed to the Group Board in 2006.

Mark is a Non-Executive Director for international property company Sonae Sierra SGPS. He is a Trustee of the Urban Land Institute (ULI) and a Trustee for the Westminster Foundation. He is a member of the (University of) Cambridge Land Economy Advisory Board and an Honorary Vice-President of the Cambridge University Land Society.

Group Finance Director

Nicholas Scarles, FCA, Attorney at Law, joined Grosvenor in the UK in 2004 and was appointed to the Group Board in 2006 as Group Finance Director. He is also a member of the Group Executive Committee and serves as a Non-Executive Director on the Grosvenor Britain & Ireland, Grosvenor Americas, Grosvenor Asia Pacific and Grosvenor Europe Boards. He is also Chairman of the group which produced “A Vision for Real Estate Finance in the UK,” which made recommendations for ensuring the UK’s financial stability following the next commercial real estate market crash. He was previously at Centrica, PricewaterhouseCoopers and Lybrand in London, New York and Toronto. He is a Director of Haberdashers’ Aske’s Federation Trust and chairs the local governing board of the Haberdashers’ Aske’s Hatcham College and Haberdashers’ Aske’s Hatcham Temple Grove Free School. He is also a Member of the Court of Assistants of the Haberdashers Livery Company.

Chief Executive

Steve O'Connell was appointed to the Grosvenor Americas Board in 2018; he joined Grosvenor in 2011 and became Chief Executive of Grosvenor Americas in 2019.   Steve led Grosvenor’s Development team in San Francisco and successfully established its multifamily programme there before being appointed Managing Director, Investment in 2015 where he oversaw Investment and Co-Investment activities in North America. He holds a B.Eng. degree from McGill University and an MBA from the UC Berkeley - Haas School of Business. Steve is an Executive Committee and Board member of UC Berkeley’s Fisher Center Policy Advisory Board, a member of the Bay Area Council Board of Directors and belongs to an Urban Land Institute (ULI) National Mixed-Use Development Council.

Chief Executive

Benjamin Cha is Chief Executive of Grosvenor Asia Pacific and has been an investor and developer in the Asia Pacific region during his 20+ year career in the industry.

Before joining Grosvenor in 2014 he was Managing Director, Head of Global Real Estate, Greater China for UBS Global Asset Management and co-CEO for UBS/Gemdale. Prior to UBS Ben was with Hong Kong developer HKR International, ultimately as Executive Director and Head of HKR Asia Pacific.

Ben has an MBA from Stanford University and a BA in International Politics and Economics from Middlebury College, USA. He serves on the board of HAECO, the M+ Museum for Visual Culture, and the Asia Art Archive and serves on the advisory committee of the Tai Kwun Centre for Heritage and Art.

Chief Executive

Craig McWilliam, FRICS, was appointed to the Grosvenor Britain & Ireland Board in 2010. In 2013 he became the Executive Director responsible for the London estate, having previously had charge of all development activities off the London estate. In January 2017, Craig became CEO of Grosvenor Britain & Ireland. Prior to joining Grosvenor he was a Managing Director at Fortress Investment Group.

Craig is an Honorary Fellow of the RICS, a Trustee of LandAid and a Director of London First. He also sits on BPF's Policy Committee and is Chairman of the Westminster Property Association.

Chief Executive

James Raynor is the Chief Executive Officer of Grosvenor Europe, the fourth proprietary operating company of the Grosvenor Group. He has held the role since June 2013, when the business was known as Grosvenor Fund Management, and is responsible for developing and implementing business strategy. James joined Grosvenor in 2004, and was appointed to the Board in 2005. In his time with the business he has held the role of Chief Investment Officer of Grosvenor Fund Management and has run the capital markets and continental European businesses. Prior to this, James was the Senior Director of European Real Estate at Royal Bank of Scotland in Paris and a Non-Executive Director of Nordisk Renting.  He is now a member of the Grosvenor Executive Committee, sits on the INREV training & Education Committee and is also a member of the INREV Fund Manager Advisory Council. 

Associate Director - People Partnering