Weston Smith appointed Chair of ULI Europe Young Leaders

Thibault Weston Smith, Managing Director, Realty Corporation, has been appointed Chair of Urban Land Institute (ULI) Europe Young Leaders Group and will serve for two years, also becoming a member of the ULI Europe Executive Committee.

The Young Leaders Group represents members under the age of 35.

“As Young Leaders we provide one of the best forums for current decision makers to engage with the leaders of tomorrow to question, challenge and disrupt”, said Weston Smith. “Via a continuous strengthening of cross-generational bridges with the ULI, we can collectively identify and apply new, innovative, and pragmatic solutions to address today’s industry challenges and leveraging ULI’s global reach, diversity, emphasis on education, communities and the best land use to sensitively shape the future of the built environment together”.

The focus will be on the main challenges the sector faces. The built world and the broader real estate industry are going through an unprecedented period of transformation with challenges to tackle including decarbonisation, affordability, diversity, equity, and inclusion. In parallel, real estate players are striving to catch up from low adoption of technology, automation, and digitisation, building links with a fast-growing proptech start-up ecosystem.

“ULI members constantly learn and develop their skills through the direct exposure to industry leaders who freely share their knowledge, experience, and wisdom,” said Weston Smith, describing ULI as the most influential research and institutional organisation for the built environment in the world.

“I look forward to working with Thibault and I’ll ensure that the Young Leaders programme continues to be well supported and connected into the global network”, said Lars Huber, new ULI Europe Chairman. “This group is incredibly important to ULI, as it provides a platform for the real estate leaders and experts of the future”.

Weston Smith has been a member of ULI since 2015, and most recently has been actively involved in initiatives including Bridge the Gap, the European networking programme and organising or moderating events on PropTech and Life Sciences. He has over ten years’ experience in real estate, beginning his career at Tishman Speyer, and he is currently Managing Director at Realty Corporation, a real estate private equity and advisory firm deploying capital both in real estate assets and PropTech start-ups.

“Thibault’s commitment to ULI’s mission priorities, his enthusiasm for addressing today’s challenges, and his valuable experience working in real estate and PropTech, is a great combination for a chair of Europe Young Leaders,” said Lisette van Doorn, CEO, ULI Europe.

ULI’s mission priorities that the organisation will focus on over the next three years are decarbonising the real estate sector and targeting net zero; educating the next generation of diverse real estate leaders; and increasing housing attainability in communities around the world.