APREA Philippines Conference

Pooja Changani is the Member Relations Manager for GRESB, whereby she overlooks all existing Participant & Investor members, along with the Partners, for the Asia region. She was previously a Sales Director for the Investor Segment (Asia) at ION Analytics, covering products across all asset classes, including Infrastructure. She holds a BBA in Economics & Marketing from Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.

Sigrid is the Chief Executive Officer of Asia Pacific Real Assets Association (APREA). Based in Singapore, she is responsible for overseeing the strategic direction, initiatives and operations of the association across Asia Pacific. Under her leadership, APREA repositioned to an industry trade group focusing on real estate and infrastructure.

Sigrid joined APREA’s executive team in January 2019.

Prior to APREA, she served as Managing Director of Asia Pacific Research and Advisory Services of Cushman & Wakefield (C&W) from 2010 through 2018, where she was responsible for research, thought leadership, strategy formulation and client management.  Before relocating to Singapore, she was based in Washington, D.C. and led C&W’s U.S. research group in the Mid-Atlantic region, overseeing all aspects of market research activities in the Washington, DC; Virginia; Suburban Maryland, Baltimore; and Philadelphia areas. Prior to joining C&W, Sigrid served as a Senior Economist for the National Association of Realtors (NAR). In that position, she developed NAR’s office, warehouse, retail, multi-family housing, and international research programs.

A recognized expert in global economic, public policy and real estate issues, Sigrid is a frequent speaker at industry events.  Her commentary on commercial and residential real estate markets is also regularly featured in a wide array of global publications, including the Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, Bloomberg, New York Times and Reuters. Additionally, she has made several television appearances on financial networks and radio such as CNBC, Bloomberg, CNN, National Public Radio and Channel News Asia.

Sigrid holds a Master of Business Administration from Cornell University’s Johnson Graduate School of Management and a Master’s degree in Economics from Pennsylvania State University. She is a member of several civic groups including the Rotary Club of Raffles City in Singapore, where she has served in various leadership positions, and serves in the Executive Committee of the Crohn’s & Colitis Society of Singapore.

Dato’ Stewart LaBrooy is a Board member of the Asia Pacific Real Estate Association (APREA). It is the industry body for the suppliers and users of capital in the real estate sector. He served as the founding Chairman of the Malaysian REIT Managers Association (MRMA), from 2010-2015, an organization he helped set up in 2010 to give Malaysian REIT Managers a single voice for the purpose of engagement with the Regulators and Ministry of Finance.

Dato LaBrooy has been writing on a regular basis on Property and REITs for the local mainstream print and online media for the past five years or so, and is known and recognised as the “REIT Guru” in the country. He is also a prominent speaker on the subject of Industrial Estate Development and Conventional and Islamic REITs in the region, having been invited to deliver papers in Singapore, Hong Kong, Istanbul, New York, London, Saudi Arabia, Philippines and Malaysia.

He was appointed Executive Director of Axis REIT on 22 March 2005 and Chief Executive Office (“CEO”) of Axis REIT since August 2008. Axis REIT was the first REIT to be listed in Malaysia and the first Shariah-compliant industrial REIT in the world. Under his leadership, Axis REIT has won several awards, among them, the APREA Best Practices Award in 2010, 2011 and 2013. Axis REIT has provided its investors with total average returns in excess of 25% over the 10 years he helmed the business and still trades today at a 30% premium to NAV. In 2017 Dato’ LaBrooy formed the world’s first unlisted Shariah compliant Education Asset based REIT- Alpha REIT ,which has a planned listing in 2022. He is currently serving as the Chairman of the Board of Directors.

Dato’ Stewart LaBrooy is the Executive Chairman of AREA Management Sdn. Bhd. a subsidiary of AREA Advisors Pte Ltd (AREA) an appointment he has taken since his retirement as CEO and Executive Director of Axis REIT Managers Bhd (ARMB) on 31 December 2015. With a career spanning over 40 years in the industrial space, he has spent well over a decade since 2005 in heading Axis REIT and establishing REITs as an important component of the capital markets. Dato’ Stewart LaBrooy is also a director of a number of public and private companies involved in property development, services and property investment.

Since its inception, AREA was established as a boutique advisory firm providing advice on investing in industrial properties in Malaysia, UK, Australia and Germany. AREA has decided to expand its advisory role to include funds management. It has since set up a company that will undertake the investment management activities (the AREA Industrial Development Fund 1 (AIDF 1) and AREA Management Sdn Bhd (AMSB) was set up to undertake the management of the projects of the fund in Malaysia. AREA Advisors Pte Ltd was re-designated as the Funds management company. In November 2015 AIDF 1 launched its first maiden project a 1,200,000 sq. ft. e-commerce hub in the heart of Kuala Lumpur.

Dato’ Stewart LaBrooy is also a director of a number of public and private companies involved in property development, services and property investment.

With over 18 years of experience in real estate advisory, development, investment, and asset management, spanning both commercial and residential sectors, Eric Manuel leads the investments and asset management activities in the Philippines for ARCH Capital since 2018.  Previously, Eric was Vice President and Head of Real Estate for Primeiro Partners, an investment bank providing strategic and capital advisory services to several real estate developers and financial institutions. He was also Vice President for Daiichi Properties, an award-winning developer in the Philippines.

He received a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics from Binghamton University and a Master’s Degree from the London School of Economics, graduating Summa Cum Laude and With Honors, respectively.

Stephen’s career has been focused in and on Asia since 1989, holding senior roles in both the private and public sectors.

Stephen is a senior adviser to BDO Unibank in the Philippines, based in Manila.  His remit is to help drive growth from cross-border trade and investment. Prior to joining BDO, he was the Director General of Invest Hong Kong, the investment promotion agency of Hong Kong from 2017-2023 where he led a team in 34 locations across every continent. Before this he was Chief Executive of the China-Britain Business Council, an International Trade Director for the British Government, a co-founder of a start up in Asia and a banker specialized in cross-border financings in Asia.

Rick Santos is the Chairman, CEO and Founder of Santos Knight Frank (an affiliate of Knight Frank, the largest privately owned global real estate consultancy, with more than 500 offices in 60 countries across the globe including a strategically important partnership with Cresa in the United States). Santos Knight Frank was the country’s first fully integrated real estate service provider.

Rick was born in the Philippines (his father is from Zamboanga) and raised in San Marino, California, USA. His education covered UC Berkeley, the London School of Economics and Oxford University. A post graduate thesis on the “Spatial Implications of Information Technology on Office Location Theory” gave him his passion for the real estate sector and, in particular, the global impact of the outsourcing revolution.

Rick established the CBRE business in Manila in 1994 as the country’s first fully integrated real estate service provider. He served as Managing Director of CBRE Hong Kong, was a member of the CBRE Asia & Asia Pacific Board and the Head of Institutional Investment Properties for Asia. He was the link partner to the emerging market countries of India, Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam.

In 2017, he established a long-term partnership with Knight Frank and rebranded his 1,400- strong organization as “Santos Knight Frank”. The business today consists of 11 specialist teams focusing on: Occupier Services & Commercial Agency; Facilities Management; Property Management; Asset Management; Project Management; Technical Services and Engineering; Residential Sales & Leasing; Investment & Capital Markets; Research & Consultancy; Valuation Services and Group Business Services.

Rick and his team were instrumental in the growth of the Business Processing Outsourcing sector and were pioneers in bringing many of the multinational BPO and offshoring companies to the country.

Santos Knight Frank is responsible for more than 4 million sqm of office space transactions, including the largest office leasing deal in Philippine real estate history (70,000 sqm), and over 20 million sqm of assets under its property and facilities management teams.

Santos Knight Frank has represented Fortune 500 companies and major occupiers including P&G, Accenture, Chevron, American Express, AIG, Citi, Unilever, IBM, Emerson, Standard Chartered, Siemens, Oracle, AT&T, Google, Bank of America, ING, Nokia, and Sony, among others.

He is an advocate of Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) as a way of democratizing real estate, having supported the passing of the REIT law in the Philippines.

He serves and has held roles on numerous corporate and non-profit boards including YPO Philippines (former chapter chair), Philippine Rugby Football Union (past- president), the American Chamber of Commerce in the Philippines (board member and 3-term former president), International School Manila, CoreNet Philippines, and the Asia Pacific Real Estate Association, among others.

Alan Lee is currently the Senior Regional Manager within the Asia Pacific region for Yardi. As a Senior Regional Manager, Alan helps real estate organisations and institutions enhance their business processes, operations, and reporting through technology. Ever since joining Yardi 10 years ago, he has helped to build the Yardi brand and grow the business in ASEAN.

Before working with Yardi, he was a Smart City and Building consultant who helped advice owners on the latest smart technologies and applications in their portfolio. This includes designing the infrastructure for those technologies and executing the vendor selection for implementation.

Alan is a big fan of architecture, smart technologies, and engineering. He enjoys working with clients and helping them on their business strategies and technology advisory. Alan holds a Bachelor of Arts (Hons) in International Business Management, International Business and Strategy from Northumbria University.

Indran has been with UBS since 2010 and is the Head of UBS’ Real Estate, Lodging & Leisure franchise in Asia. He has over 20 years of experience in the financial sector with extensive experience in capital markets, mergers and acquisitions, debt and strategic advisory transactions.

Prior to joining UBS, Indran was with DBS Bank, primarily focused on the REIT space, and Aseambankers Malaysia Berhad, focused on advising the group on domestic and regional acquisition strategies.

Indran graduated with a BA(Hons) in Economics from the University of Nottingham.

Jericho P. Go, 53, is the President and Chief Executive Officer of RL Commercial REIT, Inc. He also serves as the Senior Vice President and Business Unit General Manager of Robinsons Offices in Robinsons Land Corporation. He is concurrently the President and Chief Executive Officer of Robinsons DoubleDragon Corp. and the Chairman and President of Robinsons Equitable Tower Condominium Corporation, Robinsons Summit Center Condominium Corporation and Galleria Corporate Center Condominium Corporation. He has over 30 years of experience in the field of real estate and was responsible for filing and registering the Philippines' very first IT park with the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) in 1997. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Development Studies from the University of the Philippines and graduated Magna Cum Laude and Class Salutatorian in 1993.

Jose Eduardo A. Quimpo II, Filipino, 45, is a Director of the company since August 14, 2024. He is also a Vice President of Ayala Land, Inc. (ALI). Mr. Quimpo has extensive experience in investment banking, securities brokerage, and wealth management with his over 17 years in banking. Prior to joining ALI, he was a Senior Vice President of BDO Private Bank from October 2023 to March 2024. He was also the President of BDO Securities Corporation and Chief Operating Officer of BDO Capital & Investment Corporation, investment banking subsidiary of BDO Unibank, Inc., from March 2021 to September 2023. He was First Vice President and Co-Head of Corporate Finance of BDO Capital from 2018 to 2021. Prior to this he had senior roles in corporate finance of BDO Capital from 2014-2018 and prior to that in BPI Capital Corporation, the investment banking subsidiary of BPI, from 2007 to 2014. Mr. Quimpo obtained his Bachelor of Science in Management Engineering at Ateneo de Manila University in 2001.

Mr. Christian Bernasconi is a Founding Partner of B&I Capital AG and is based in Singapore where he acts a group co-CIO and head of the research office. Christian has over 27 years of experience as an Asian and Japanese equities specialist and has been based in Switzerland and Singapore over his career. Prior to co-founding B&I Capital in 2007, Christian was an Executive Director at UBS and established the Japan and Asian Equity Sales platform and was part of the Global Real Estate (RE) Team in Zurich. Before joining UBS in 2000, Christian was with W.I. Carr Far East Limited, Paribas Asia Equity and Yamaichi Securities. He received a Bachelors degree in Political Economy of Industrial Societies at the University of California at Berkeley.

Headquartered in Zurich with a research office in Singapore, B&I Capital AG was founded in 2007 by Christian Bernasconi and Charles Isaac to give qualified investors a means to invest in Asian listed Real Estate, predominantly the nascent Asian REIT market. At that time REITs were an emerging asset class in developed equity markets such as Japan, Singapore and Hong Kong, and a more mature REIT market in Australia. B&I Capital is well regarded as an active investor that engages with the managements of the companies it invests in to encourage best practice and is also an active member of APREA which promotes the development of the listed Asian Real Estate sector. Currently B&I Capital employs 15 people and manages USD >1bn worth of assets and is licensed both in Switzerland by FINMA and in Singapore as a CMS License holder by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS).

Christine Angela Sevilla is the Director of Development for the Philippines at Radisson Hotel Group. With over a decade of experience in corporate real estate and hotel asset management, she plays a key role in expanding the group’s presence in the Philippines. A graduate of De La Salle University with a degree in Business Management, Christine also holds certifications in Hotel Management from ESSEC Business School, enhancing her expertise in revenue and demand management.

Christine’s early career included managing a portfolio of six luxury hotels across the Philippines and leading real estate divestment transactions worth USD 35 million. This combination of corporate real estate and hotel asset management experience gave her a strong foundation in financial modeling, feasibility analysis, and leadership.

Since joining Radisson Hotel Group, she has been instrumental in signing 13 hotels, adding 2,805 rooms across the country. One of her major accomplishments includes securing a Master Franchise Agreement with SM Hotels and Conventions Corporation to develop 14 hotels by 2028.

Driven by her belief in the Philippines’ potential as a key hospitality market, Christine is passionate about building Radisson’s legacy in the country. She thrives on independence, accountability, and collaboration, leading cross-functional teams and building lasting relationships with stakeholders.

Outside of work, Christine is a certified Rescue Diver, working toward her Master Diver certification. She is also an avid traveler, golf and tennis player, and rare plant collector.

Cyndy Tan Jarabata has diverse experience extending over 25 years in the hospitality, leisure and real estate. Founder of TAJARA Hospitality, representing owners, developers and investment funds on various development capacities. Her experience and expertise has led TAJARA to numerous successful projects advising multiple corporations on growth strategy and rapid expansion, creating long term relationships with owners.

TAJARA is a leading hospitality consulting and development company in the Philippines working with clients throughout Asia. Client portfolio includes hotel and branded residential projects, office, mixed- use, integrated resorts, tourism developments and rollout of business hotels across the country.

Cyndy is the inaugural and incumbent Chairperson of the Philippine Property Awards and a recipient of the ARES Power Women honours in 2022 at the Property Guru Asia Real Estate Summit for her influence and contributions as an industry leader.

She heads the Hospitality Committee of ULI (Urban Land Institute) Philippines and member of ULI Hospitality Development Council in Asia Pacific. A board trustee of several non-profit organizations, dealing with sustainable tourism, family planning and poverty

Kemmu Kawai joined Longevity Partners Japan in September 2022 as the Country Director. Based in Tokyo, he oversees all operations and activities in Japan, the Asia-Pacific region and beyond. He brings him more than 16 years of experience in finance where he specialised in real estate and credit investments. Before joining Longevity Partners, he served as a Portfolio Manager at Norinchukin Bank and as Investment Manager at Center Point Development.

is Senior Vice President and Head of Strategic Funding & Investments, Corporate Planning and Investor Relations for Arthaland Corporation, a real estate development company listed on the Philippine Stock Exchange.

She is a finance professional with 25 years experience in financial advisory, debt and equity capital raising, debt restructuring and mergers and acquisitions. Prior to joining Arthaland, she was Associate Director in American Orient Capital Partners (Philippines) and was with the Global Corporate Finance group of SGV and Co. She received her CFA Charter in 2006 and was one of the topnotchers in the 1999 CPA Board Exams. She graduated cum laude from the University of the Philippines with a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration and Accountancy.

Jesper Palmqvist is based in Singapore and as Senior Director he leads STR in Asia Pacific since 2013. His career spans across hospitality, online travel, IT and music. Originally from Sweden, he frequently presents the latest trends and updates at industry events and media outlets.

STR, a CoStar Group company [NASDAQ: CSGP], tracks daily historic and future supply and demand data as well as monthly financial data for the hospitality industry and provide valuable market share analysis for global hotel and investment companies and agencies across the globe.