Seaforth Land, the London-focused commercial real estate investor and asset manager, has appointed Lesley Chen Davison as Chief Investment Officer following an extensive search. She will join the company in September 2019.
Lesley first crossed paths with Tyler Goodwin, founder and chief executive officer, and Kurt Roeloffs, chairperson, 20 years ago in New York when the trio worked in the real estate private equity group of Deutsche Bank. She moved to London with Deutsche Bank, but subsequently left in 2002 to pursue the next phase of her career.
Lesley joins Seaforth Land from Delancey where she has worked since 2005 as director of Banking and Treasury, and served as a member of the company’s Steering Committee. At Delancey, Lesley had oversight of all third-party financing and banking relationships. She has sourced approximately £3 billion of new financing for Delancey clients and partners since 2014.
Tyler Goodwin, founder & CEO of Seaforth Land, said: “I have known Lesley for nearly two decades and I can say with confidence that she is the right person to grow our highly specialised fiduciary operating platform. We have a similar approach to real estate investment given our formative years at Deutsche Bank, and she brings a wealth of financing experience with her across a diverse range of sectors including office, retail, residential and alternatives.
“Lesley represents our commitment to attracting best-in-class experts in real estate investing and fiduciary care, as we continue to deliver outperformance whilst growing our institutional quality assets under management. With her partnership and leadership, the Seaforth Land board is looking forward to maintaining the company’s commitment to smart and creative growth.”
Lesley Chen Davison, chief investment officer, Seaforth Land, said: “Seaforth is an exciting and entrepreneurial real estate investment business that has accomplished a great deal in its formative years, having already acquired several significant properties including the iconic Space House. My 14 years of experience in UK real estate capital markets adds to the exemplary property skills that Seaforth Land already has in-house. I look forward to working with Tyler, Kurt, and the rest of the team to ensure the company is a huge success.”
An active participant in the UK real estate industry, Lesley was a member of the UK Government’s Build to Rent Joint Committee and CREFC Europe’s Build to Rent Finance Initiative Committee. She is currently a Council Member of Cranfield University where she sits on the Finance Committee and the Nominations Committee in addition to the main council.
Lesley has worked on real estate transactions across Europe and North America. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Accounting from Georgetown University in Washington DC.
Seaforth Land provides exclusive programmatic separate account strategies designed to meet each client’s specific allocation requirements. Exclusivity is established in advance and designed around asset class, the risk-return spectrum, submarket and equity investment to eliminate potential conflicts of interest. By specialising in Central London, Seaforth Land builds on their proprietary research to develop a unique insight into buildings, tenants and sub-markets with a bias towards value-investing.
