Speakers for 2025 Include

Alex Aitchison is the Managing Director and lead for Lincoln Property Company’s business in the United Kingdom, bringing a wealth of experience and expertise to the table. With a background in both private and publicly listed companies, Alex has a proven track record in devising and delivering successful investment and development strategies in a variety of sectors. Alex has invested and developed real estate assets in a wide range of sectors, including residential, office, hotel, industrial, mixed-use, and retail.

Since joining Lincoln at the launch of their UK operations, Alex has overseen major projects such as the $1 billion mixed-use development Station Hill in Reading, UK. As the leader of Lincoln’s ambitious expansion plans in the UK, Alex’s team is responsible for identifying and executing new investment and development projects in the region. With a demonstrated ability to deliver results in both the commercial and residential sectors, Alex’s leadership has played a pivotal role in the success of Lincoln’s operations in the UK.

Matthew is the Founder and Managing Director of UK Property Forums. Established in 2004, UKPF enables conferences, events and networking opportunities across the Greater Thames Valley region including Oxford, Reading and Aylesbury. As part of the range of events which UKPF have created, he leads UK Prop Social, a networking club for 150+ members and also the Thames Valley offer at MIPIM UK and MIPIM Cannes, France. Having lived and studied in the Thames Valley, he is very informed about the region and passionate about the development of a group for all those involved in the Thames Valley property markets.

Chris currently leads the private sector sales team at Freshwave, the connectivity infrastructure-as-a-service provider bringing mobile operators, central and local government, and real estate providers together to work in new ways. He’s been at the intersection of digital connectivity and real estate for over 20 years, having worked with a major UK mobile network for over 20 years in roles covering radio networks, estates management and portfolio change. He’s passionate about transforming real estate so that it best meets the needs of its users.

Chris was on the board of the British Council for Offices for three years. He’s a non-executive director of Trustek, a board member of CREW UK and is a director of Work Reconstructed.

Emma is Executive Director of Economic Growth and Neighbourhood Services at Reading Borough Council. A qualified town planner with over 20 years of local government experience, the last 10 years of which has been in senior leadership roles in fast paced, high growth, unitary authorities in England.

Emma is a growth and regeneration specialist, working on bringing forward complicated urban redevelopment schemes and large-scale urban expansions, focussed on working in partnership with developers and stakeholders to realise the best possible outcomes for communities. Emma has a track record of securing grant funding and has led a number of competitive funding programmes over the last decade, delivering capital projects which drive economic growth, provide essential infrastructure, build social and educational capital and strengthen communities. Now with responsibility for all place based universal services in Reading too, Emma is even closer to what residents and businesses want and need to fulfil their potential.

Jo is responsible for the asset, leasing and property management teams which look after SEGRO’s Thames Valley portfolio, including Slough Trading Estate and SEGRO Park Bracknell. During her time at CBRE, Jo worked on SEGRO’s London and Thames Valley portfolios. Previously Jo had spent 10 years with Deloitte Real Estate.

Professor Kilgallon is an HBA member and the Chair of the quarterly Company Presentations Events. As part of the pitch preparation process, he also schedules one-on-one time with presenting entrepreneurs to discuss and plan follow-up questions for the pitch, to ensure the entrepreneurs can draw on additional points regarding their proposition.

Professor Kilgallon’s career has encompassed both academic and business spheres. With a degree in Pharmacology and a PhD in Immunology, it was natural for Professor Kilgallon to navigate his commercial career through a number of roles in Pharmaceutical, Biotech, and Medical Device companies. These roles ranged from country management to European and global business positions to Senior Vice President levels.

Professor Kilgallon’s current role is as CEO of Cybex Ventures, and, more recently, held two terms as the Royal Society Entrepreneur in Residence (RS EiR) at the University of Reading. In this role, Professor Kilgallon has introduced a transformation programme to commercialise research. This achieved >£1m in funding and identified research projects for company spinouts, and he is currently advising one of the first spinouts from the University of Reading.

With over 30 years of experience in the UK South East property market, Guy Parkes has developed a well-rounded industry perspective, having worked with major PLC companies and leading property consultancies. His expertise lies in bridging the gap between landlords and tenants, ensuring the deployment of strategic and effective real estate solutions.

Guy has advised across multiple sectors, including hotel & leisure, retail, and logistics during his time at Booker PLC, before moving on to office and industrial disposals and acquisitions at JLL, where he set up their South East regional office and served as EMEA Director for the Western Corridor region. He has led transactions on landmark properties across the South East, including major business parks, and has a unique skill set in repositioning and relaunching properties to the market.

Tim has worked in the aviation sector for the past 30 years, the last decade spent as BA’s Director of Property responsible for all global property assets and covering the full property lifecycle from acquisition, capital investment and construction, FM operations and disposal.

BA is currently undergoing a business transformation which involves £7b investment in all aspects of its business, including major investments in upgrading its facilities, particularly at Heathrow. 

Peter Swallow was elected as MP for the Bracknell constituency in July 2024, the first Labour MP to represent the constituency. 

He is chair of the All Party Parliamentary Groups for Social Mobility; Schools, Learning and Assesment; and for Classics, and Vice Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group for the South East. He also a member of the Joint Committee on Human Rights. He’s proud to have led campaigns on SEND reform, the Cadets, road safety.  

Peter was a university lecturer and teacher before entering Parliament. 

Elkie joined Berkeley Homes (Oxford and Chiltern) in 2011 and is now Managing Director of the Region. The Region builds around 400 homes a year across a number of developments including Horlicks Quarter in Slough, as well as other large developments in the area such as Huntley Wharf in Reading, Woodhurst Park in Warfield and Abbey Barn South in High Wycombe. Prior to becoming Managing Director, Elkie was Land Director responsible for acquiring construction sites for the business.

The Skills & Business Hub is a private sector-led partnership of business, local authorities, higher and further education providers, community and voluntary organisations, using more than £218million derived from UK Government and European Union programmes. Prior to joining The Skills & Business Hub, she was Strategy and Policy Director at the Rural Payments Agency (RPA), where she was responsible for all setting the Agency strategy and developing policy in collaboration with Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), corporate governance and the legal requirements which support the day to day management of the RPA. She also led on and managed the RPA’s relationship with Defra and the Devolved Administrations. Alison has extensive knowledge and expertise in skills, economic and rural development. She has had a varied career in the public sector, working in local government and Non-Departmental Public Bodies before joining Defra in 2012 as Director, Rural Development leading on the EU funded Rural Development Programme for England. Prior to joining Defra Group, Alison was the Executive Director of Operations at the former East of England Development Agency.