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Senior Management Team

Image for Charles Allen Charles Allen

Head of European Real Estate

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Charles was appointed Fiera’s Head of European Real Estate in 2022. He has responsibility for managing the European Real Estate team and the successful execution of its business strategy. As part of this remit, Charles’ team manages both Real Estate Equity strategies across Core, Value Add and Opportunistic, as well as Debt strategies, including Senior and Mezzanine. He is a global board member at Fiera Real Estate and also chairs Fiera Real Estate’s European Investment Committee. In addition, he sits on the board for nine individual leading UK property development companies, providing strategic expertise and executive management to the growing businesses.

Charles joined Fiera in 2013. Prior to this, he worked in the Corporate Finance team at Ernst & Young, covering M&A, restructuring and capital raising. He also has experience at BNP Paribas Real Estate.

Charles holds an MA from the University of Edinburgh and an MSC from Oxford Brookes. He is a Qualified Chartered Surveyor.

Image for Ray Palmer Ray Palmer

Chairman, UK

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Ray has specialised in development and investment for 50 years. He became the Chief Executive of Lambert Smith Hampton in his early 20s and remained in this position until 1992 when he established Fiera Real Estate (formerly known as Palmer Capital). Ray is the chairman of all of the property companies in which Fiera Real Estate has a shareholding, and takes particular responsibility for Fiera Real Estate’s balance sheet investments. He is a Board Director and member of the Investment Committee.

Image for Emma Cullen Emma Cullen

Chief Operating Officer, UK

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Emma joined Fiera Real Estate, UK in 2007 and was appointed General Counsel before broadening her role to run the operational side of the business and take over the running of the FRE UK Finance team in October 2022 . Alongside FinOps, Emma’s remit includes oversight of regulation, risk and legal as well as specialist operational projects such as the firm’s digital transformation and the establishment of a specialised ESG function within FRE UK. Prior to FRE UK, Emma qualified as a lawyer specialising in real estate investment management at the City firm, Frere Cholmeley Bischoff before moving to the niche real estate practice, Forsters LLP.  Emma was a member of the AREF Corporate Governance Committee for several years before taking the role of Chair in September 2020 and joining the AREF Management Committee.

Image for Chris Button Chris Button

Head of Investment Management

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Chris joined Fiera Real Estate in 2008 and is Head of Investment Management, taking overall responsibility for all funds and segregated mandates ranging from higher return strategies involving planning, development and/or repositioning of assets to core, progressive income, investment strategies. Chris qualified as a Chartered Surveyor with CB Hillier Parker (now CBRE) before joining PruPIM in 2002. Chris was the Lead Acquisitions Surveyor for the high profile M&G retail investor funds before joining LaSalle Investment Management as Acquisitions Director for the UK Ventures Fund in 2006. Chris is a member of the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors and a member of the Investment Committee.

Image for Rupert Sheldon Rupert Sheldon

Head of Product Development & Co-Head of Transactions

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Rupert joined Fiera Real Estate in 2005.  Having previously launched and successfully grown Fiera’s core real estate capabilities Rupert has recently taken over responsibility for developing and launching new real estate products in the UK. In addition Rupert has oversight across the transaction team ensuring that all fund and separate account investment requirements are successfully fulfilled whilst also growing the firms reach acquiring larger single asset and portfolio transactions. Before joining Fiera Real Estate, Rupert qualified as a chartered surveyor at Gooch & Wagstaff (now Colliers CRE), focusing firstly on agency and then commercial investment. In 1996, he joined Henderson Global Investors (now Nuveen) where he initially co-managed two UK property funds on behalf of German institutional investors, prior to being appointed fund manager of the £250 million Henderson UK Property Fund. He became a Henderson Director in 2003, before leaving in 2005. Rupert is a member of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors and is a member of the Investment Committee.

Image for Patrick Freestone Patrick Freestone

Head of Corporate Investments & Co-Head of Transactions

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Patrick is responsible for Fiera Real Estate’s investment in its property company network supporting their growth and profitability. Patrick joined Fiera Real Estate in 2020 from Catella APAM where he held a Senior Investment Manager role. Prior to Catella APAM, Patrick worked at CBRE Global Investors where he was the Assistant Fund Manager for two discretionary UK property funds on behalf of UK institutional investors.  In 2015, Patrick undertook a yearlong secondment with the indirect side of the business CBRE Global Investment Partners to broaden his experience, before being appointed as an Investment Manager on the £1.6B CBRE UK Property PAIF. Prior to working at CBRE Global Investors, Patrick started his career in 2009 at JLL, specialising in industrial, office and portfolio investment.

Image for Emma Murray Emma Murray

Business Development Director

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Emma Joined Fiera Real Estate in 2015 as Business Development Manager. Her primary role is to manage the capital raising for our latest fund strategies and manages FRE UK’s EMEA investor relationships. She oversees the IR and business development across the business. Emma started her career at Halifax Bank of Scotland, working with a number of pension schemes and subsequently left to head up the business development of a digital agency providing services to financial & insurance companies.