Knight Frank Investment Management (KFIM) has announced three senior hires as it targets further expansion and growth in the residential sector.
Ian Wilson has been appointed as a partner to grow KFIM’s residential investment management business, reflecting the growing client demand for residential assets and impact investments. His initial focus will be on the U.K. with a longer-term ambition to develop a European residential business. KFIM has also strengthened its best-in-class research, forecasting and ESG expertise, with the appointment of Xaviere Roudeix-Crouan as head of Research and Forecasting, and Chantal Beaudoin, who joins as head of ESG, one of the key strategic aspirations for the KFIM business being to create and deliver new investment products with environmental and social impact at their core.
Ian Wilson joins KFIM from CBRE Investment Management where he drove the development of the firm’s residential investment expertise. He moved from residential valuations into residential fund management in 2006, joining ING REIM to take over ING’s Residential Fund. During his career, he has focused on both deal execution and operational management of non-commercial property assets across the U.K. and has been at the forefront of investing institutional capital into residential assets, latterly as Portfolio Manager of the CBRE UK Affordable Housing Fund. He brings with him significant experience in capital raising, creating business and product strategy, and delivering development assets. In 2018, Wilson developed and launched the Affordable Housing Fund at CBREIM, a social impact vehicle which invested in affordable housing tenures, build-to-rent and shared ownership assets across the U.K.
Xaviere Roudeix-Crouan joins KFIM from real estate investment manager Redevco, where she was responsible for providing a strategic framework for investment management operations. At KFIM, her role combines a strong focus on quantitative modelling with research skills, supporting high quality strategic thinking with robust and relevant insight and data. Roudeix-Crouan will develop and promote evidence-based insights on the real estate market and advise KFIM on the most effective and successful investment strategies for its clients.
Having joined as head of ESG at KFIM, Chantal Beaudoin is responsible for overseeing Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG), setting targets for KFIM’s real estate portfolios, and accelerating progress towards those goals. She will also drive ESG efficiencies in the KFIM operational business. Previously Senior Sustainability manager at Lamington Group, Beaudoin developed the first industry roadmap with decarbonisation plans to meet science-based global net zero standards. She also launched the world’s first Whole Life Net Zero Carbon hotel, located in Chiswick, designed to be 89% more energy efficient than a typical UK hotel.
