Team

Chris joined the Sovereign Centros group in 2009 as Chief Executive.

With 40 years experience in the UK retail marketplace, Chris has originated and overseen many major retail transactions, including several of the UK’s largest assets.

Since 2010 Chris has implemented ambitious development and asset management strategies which have delivered significant rental and capital value growth for Sovereign’s partners in the portfolio under management.

Sovereign has grown to become the largest asset manager by floor area of retail assets in the UK. The business was sold to CBRE in November 2023 where it now operates with autonomy under the CBRE umbrella.

Previously Head of Retail Capital Markets and Senior Equity Partner of Strutt & Parker, Chris has built a nationwide reputation as a market leader in the retail investment and development sectors with a particular expertise in shopping centres.

• Email
• Telephone

Jane joined the Sovereign Centros group in 1999 and is responsible for all financial aspects of the Sovereign Centros group.

Following Lionsgate’s purchase by Sovereign Land later that year, Jane became Financial Controller and was promoted to Finance Director in 2009. In addition to providing strategic and financial direction for the group, she is responsible for overseeing the finance role on all projects.

She started her career at ICL in 1989 while studying for her accountancy qualification. Post qualifying, she worked at La Porte plc and Wickes plc where she was an integral part of the negotiations for the sale of the European business.

Jane has more than 30 years’ experience in the industry.

• Email
• Telephone

Guy joined the Sovereign Centros group in 2010.

He currently heads up the Development Team.

His experience is wide ranging and he performs the role of the interface between the AM and DM functions.

Projects include Brookfield Riverside where he is leading a large multi-disciplinary team to deliver planning permission for a new 1.1m sq ft mixed use town centre in Hertfordshire; St Enoch Centre in Glasgow where he obtained a masterplan planning consent for the phased delivery of 2m sq ft of mixed used accommodation; Telford Shopping Centre where he obtained a masterplan planning consent for an additional 1m sq ft of mixed use development.

He has also worked on the asset management of Mermaid Quay in Cardiff, the asset management and refurbishment of Ayr Central and the asset management of Trinity Walk.

Guy has more than 20 years experience in the property industry.

• Email
• Telephone

Luke joined the Sovereign Centros group in 2014 to work on new business and transactional activity in addition to a business planning and financial analysis role across the portfolio.

He has been heavily involved in Sovereign’s expanding asset management, investment and development programme including successful acquisitions such as Touchwood Shopping Centre, Solihull and One Stop Perry Barr along with several asset management appointments and transfers including Metrocentre, and Eastgate Shopping Centre, Basildon.

Extensive experience in the retail sector, working on both the agency and principal side of the market for nearly 15 years. Prior experience includes 6 years at Savills working as an Associate Director in a market leading
Shopping Centre Investment team which successfully transacted numerous shopping centres, including some of the UK’s largest.

Luke graduated from the University of Warwick with an Engineering degree in 2007 and qualified as a Chartered Surveyor in 2010.

• Email
• Telephone

Graeme joined the Sovereign Centros group in 2018 and is Director of Asset Management.

He is a qualified Chartered Surveyor with 25 years of post qualification experience across Asset Management & Development on both the agency and client side of the UK property industry.

He moved from Land Securities where he worked as a Portfolio Manager with the Shopping Centre team. Prior to this, Graeme was Head of Asset Management at Steamrock Capital and spent 7 years with Lend Lease as both an Asset & Development Manager working on various assets including Golden Square, Warrington Shopping Centre and The International Quarter in Stratford.

Graeme also worked as a Partner for Bidwells in Cambridge in the Fund Management team responsible for the property assets of a number of the Cambridge College portfolios and private individual clients.

• Email
• Telephone

Victoria joined Sovereign Centros from CBRE in September 2024 from CBRE’s Residential sector team having worked on large-scale Residential and Mixed Use Land Transactions in London primarily handling CBRE Investment Management assets, focusing on value-add development and disposal strategies.

Victoria has also worked within the Valuation department specialising in Build to Rent portfolios for L&G and Grainger.

Victoria obtained an Undergraduate degree from The University of Bath and a Postgraduate degree in International Real Estate and Planning from The Bartlett School of Planning, University College London

• Email
• Telephone

John joined Sovereign Centros from CBRE in August 2024 as an Asset and Development Graduate, working on several schemes across the portfolio.

Prior to Sovereign Centros, John worked in CBRE’s Fund Valuations and Office Agency teams, where he carried out mixed use valuation mandates for institutional clients, and acted on office relocation deals in the London office market.

John studied Real Estate at Oxford Brookes University, graduating in 2022.

• Email
• Telephone

Fred joined from CBRE’s Property Management team where he worked primarily with CBRE Investment Management, Orchard Street Investment Management and private oversees clients on their mixed-use mandates across Central and Greater London. He has completed client-side secondments where he has helped drive various value-add initiatives across his clients’ retail portfolios.

He currently leads the leasing and asset management strategy at Tunsgate Quarter and works as investment analyst with Joe Rooney, David Sadler, and Luke Winstanley.

Fred holds an Undergraduate degree from The University of Exeter and a Postgraduate degree in Real Estate from Cass Business School, City, University of London.

• Email
• Telephone

Ben joined the Sovereign Centros group in 2020 from intu Properties PLC as a Senior Leasing, Asset & Development Manager for Metrocentre, one of the UK’s top shopping and leisure destinations.

Ben spent 6 years at intu, firstly as Senior Asset Manager for intu Eldon Square and subsequently Metrocentre from 2018. His role involves all aspects of leasing and asset management in addition to delivering development projects. Highlights have included the Grey’s Quarter scheme at Eldon Square.

Prior to intu, Ben was a Partner in Retail Agency at Sanderson Weatherall primarily responsible for leasing at Metrocentre and Elson Square whilst also acting for other clients including Greggs and Co-op.

Ben is a qualified Chartered Surveyor and has 14 years post qualification experience.

• Email
• Telephone

Joseph joined Sovereign Centros in December 2022 as a Development Manager to work across a variety of the team’s development projects.

Prior to Sovereign Centros, Joseph worked at LCR Property in the Development and Asset Management teams, working primarily on complex development opportunities around transport hubs, in collaboration with public sector bodies.

Joseph studied Real Estate at the University of Reading and qualified as a Chartered Surveyor in 2019.

• Email
• Telephone

Mike joined Sovereign Centros in March 2022 as a Leasing and Asset Manager to work across a variety of the team’s projects.

Prior to Sovereign Centros, Mike worked at Hammerson Plc in the Restaurant and Leisure team advising on the leasing strategy across some of Hammerson’s core assets.

Mike studied Economics and Politics at Warwick university and worked at Standard Bank prior to joining Hammerson.

• Email

Matt joined the Sovereign Centros group in 2018 and works as a Senior Asset Manager across many shopping centre assets within the Sovereign Centros portfolio.

Prior to Sovereign Centros, Matt worked in the Asset Management team at intu Properties PLC responsible for the leasing and asset management on intu Watford.

He also worked on intu Lakeside covering leasing, asset and property management duties.

Having studied at Manchester and Reading, Matt has 7 years experience in the property industry.

• Email
• Telephone

Jack joined the Sovereign Centros group in 2016 and works as a Senior Asset Manager, having experience on many projects across the Sovereign Centros portfolio.

Prior to Sovereign Centros, Jack worked in Valuations at Allsop LLP across a broad range of commercial property and has experience in L&T and Receivership strategy.

Having studied at Exeter and Reading, Jack qualified as a Chartered Surveyor in 2014 and has over 9 years’ experience in the property industry.

• Email
• Telephone

Noah joined the Sovereign Centros group in 2023 as an Asset Manager for the Metrocentre, one of the UK’s top shopping and leisure destinations.

Noah is a qualified Chartered Surveyor and has held a number of advisory and client side positions across the UK.

• Email
• Telephone

Paul joined the Sovereign Centros group in 2018 as a Development & Planning Consultant.

Paul has worked within the retail and logistics sectors for over 30 years heading up a number of retail strategy, property development and construction teams. With careers at B&Q, BAA, Sainsbury’s and Netto, he has been accountable for the acquisition, development and construction of retail food and non-food stores, and distribution facilities throughout the UK. He has also worked in Taiwan studying building design in the Far East, and China, where he spent 2 years researching future international retail landscapes and development opportunities specifically for food store expansion.

Paul has worked for a number of FTSE 100 retail leaders and is passionate about retail operations, the future shopping environment and how bricks and mortar stores remain as important as ever within an evolving shopping climate.

During his time with Sovereign Centros, Paul has supported a number of our projects, specifically the £250m mixed-use redevelopment of Leisure World in Southampton, the letting and building refurbishment of a distribution unit for one of the UK’s growing meal kit technology providers, and the planning and delivery management for a new £23m supermarket and retail park refurbishment in Merseyside.

• Email
• Telephone

Iain joined the Sovereign Centros group in 2022 as a Senior Asset & Development Manager.

He has 25 years experience across Asset Management, Development & Leasing on the client side of the UK property industry.

He joins after working for London & Cambridge Properties and M&M Asset Management where he was Director of Shopping Centres with responsibility for asset, leasing and development management of the Stamford Quarter, Altrincham, Stretford Mall and other mixed use assets across the UK.

Prior to this, Iain was a Retail Asset Manager for Capital & Regional’s Mall Fund responsible for assets such as Redditch Town Centre, The Mall Wood Green, The Mall Camberley and The Galleries Bristol.

During his early career, Iain worked as an associate Director at Allied London Properties on assets such as The Brunswick Centre, Bloomsbury, the redevelopment of Bracknell Town Centre and Spinningfields, Manchester.

• Email
• Telephone

Tom joined the Sovereign Centros group in 2020 as an Asset Manager to work across a variety of the team projects.

Prior to Sovereign Centros, Tom worked at Grosvenor Fund Management in Paris and Workman LLP, advising clients on the management and strategy for a range of commercial property asset classes.

Tom studied at the University of Nottingham and Reading.

He is a qualified Chartered Surveyor and has 7 years experience in the property industry.

• Email
• Telephone

Simon joined the Sovereign Centros group in 2015.

Simon oversees Asset Management and Leasing strategies on key Sovereign Centros centres.

He joined from M&G Real Estate where he was a Director within the Retail Asset Management team for over 7 years. Prior to that he was an Asset Manager at both Aviva (formerly Morley) and LaSalle Investment Management where he first developed his expertise in the retail property market.

Simon has over 15 years experience in the retail market place. His experience has included full asset management responsibilities for a wide range of centres across the UK as well as retail warehouse parks and high street properties.

• Email
• Telephone

Poppy joined Sovereign Centros in 2023 as an Asset Manager to work on a variety of the team’s projects with a particular emphasis on leasing.

Prior to Sovereign Centros, Poppy worked in the JLL Shopping Centre Leasing team where she worked on projects such as Trinity Leeds, White Rose Leeds and Grand Arcade Cambridge. She then moved to CBREIM where she was responsible for the asset management of Hammersmith and Fulham Broadway.

• Email
• Telephone

Joseph joined the Sovereign Centros group in 2023 as an Investment Analyst. He assists the Investment team with business planning, acquisition review and ongoing financial analysis of assets.

He was previously a Fund Analyst with Centuria Capital in Australia, a listed fund manager with $21.2b AUD of assets under management. Prior to that Joseph worked as an Asset Manager for Centuria on a $300m retail portfolio and as a Leasing Executive for Coles Supermarkets Australia.

Joseph has a Bachelor of Commerce (Finance) and a Graduate Diploma of Property.

• Email
• Telephone

David joined the Sovereign Centros group in 2021as a Senior Investment Manager.

Before joining, David was a Partner at Cushman & Wakefield in the Retail Capital Markets team. Prior to that he was a founder member and Director of Coady Supple Ltd, a real estate investment agency that, between 2011 and 2019, advised on the sale or purchase of 47 assets (including 39 shopping centres) with a capital value in excess of £1.6bn.

David has also worked as an Investment Analyst at Franc Warwick Chartered Surveyors (2006-20011) and as a Financial Accountant for the Burford Group PLC (1998-2005).

David qualified as a Chartered Accountant in 1994 and has gained over 25 years of experience in the property industry since graduating from the University of Exeter with a degree in English Literature.

• Email
• Telephone

Katie works as a Director within the Sovereign Centros by CBRE team, after originally joining CBRE in 2019, with a focus on the strategic asset management of Cribbs Causeway, Bristol on behalf of M&G.

Katie is a qualified Chartered Surveyor with experience across asset management on both the agency and client side of the UK property industry.

Previous roles include working as an Asset Manager at The Crown Estate, working on the Regional Portfolio prime retail park assets across the South of England. Prior to that, Katie worked as an Asset Manager for Invesco Real Estate, driving value across two UK mixed-use asset portfolios.
More recently upon joining CBRE, Katie worked in a strategic client role on Centre MK, Milton Keynes, before moving across to work within the CBRE Asset Management team.

Katie has worked in a client-lead role on Merseyway Shopping Centre on behalf of Stockport Council and on the asset management delivery of mixed-use assets within two M&G fund portfolios.

• Email
• Telephone

Prior to joining Sovereign Centros, Mark worked CBRE, primarily with Shaftesbury PLC (now Shaftesbury Capital). He led the management of a retail and mixed-use estate in Covent Garden.
This was alongside leading asset management strategies for smaller family trust clients with retail led portfolios.

Having studied at Reading, Mark has more than 10 years’ experience in the property industry, qualifying as a Chartered Surveyor in 2015 before joining CBRE.

• Email
• Telephone

Alistair joined the Sovereign Centros group in 2022 as Asset Manager for Merry Hill, with over 20 years experience in the Midlands property marketing having worked for a number of owners and occupiers associated with retail space.

He joins having worked in the asset management team for Ellandi and prior to this, 6 years at intu Properties PLC.

• Email
• Telephone

Siva joined the Sovereign Centros group in 2003 as an Assistant Accountant and was promoted to Financial Controller in 2010. He currently looks after the project related accounting across the Sovereign Centros portfolio.

He was previously at Chartwell Land plc and has more than 20 years accounting experience within the property industry. His expertise covers development and investment finance.

• Email
• Telephone

Jay joined the Sovereign Centos group in March 2023 as a Junior Management Accountant, working primarily on The Metrocentre and Merry Hill.

Jay graduated from the University of the West of England Bristol in 2022 with a MSc Finance and Investment Graduate (Distinction) and BA (Hons) Business Management with Accounting and Finance (First).

He is currently studying for the CFA and is interested in creating positive change through ESG analysis and sustainable finance.

• Email
• Telephone

Lesya has joined the Sovereign Centros group in January 2022 as Management Accountant.

She will be responsible for the day-to-day financial aspects of Merry Hill Shopping Centre, one of the UK’s top shopping centres.

Lesya is a dedicated and detail-orientated accounting professional with over ten years of experience. Before this, she has worked at Ellandi LLP as a management accountant looking after different SPV’s.

In addition to the above, Lesya is actively volunteering at the Ukrainian Saturday School in London.

• Email
• Telephone

Ben joined the Sovereign Centros group in 2021 as Senior Management Accountant.

Amongst other projects he will have responsibility for the Metrocentre, one of the UK’s top shopping and leisure destinations.

Ben spent a number of years at intu Properties PLC, where he was the lead Commercial Accountant on 4 assets including intu Lakeside and Watford, as well as two joint ventures. Ben covered all aspects of commercial finance for the assets, including the opening of two major asset extension projects and the creation and structuring of joint ventures.

Prior to intu, Ben spent 10 years abroad where he had studied finance and worked for the New York Red Bulls.

• Email
• Telephone

Laura joined the Sovereign Centros group in 2015 as a Personal Assistant and from 2018 also managing the social media profiles.

Laura is PA to John Marsh, Guy Beaumont and the wider team.

She has 10 years’ experience previously working in Recruitment and Facilities Management.

• Email
• Telephone

Susannah joined the Sovereign Centros group in 2009 as a Personal Assistant.

Susannah is PA to Chris Geaves, Chief Executive and the wider team.

She was previously at Strutt and Parker and has worked in the property industry for over 15 years.

• Email
• Telephone