UK life sciences and technology campus developer and operator Pioneer Group has appointed three new directors as part of its growth plans.
The news comes just a few weeks after the group announced the hiring of former Schroders boss Harry Pickering as portfolio director & UK head of investment.
Fred Reynolds, who has spent the last 19 years at BlackRock, will be responsible for assisting the asset management platform at Pioneer and managing the development pipeline of modern life science facilities.
At Blackrock, the world’s largest asset manager, he was responsible for assisting in the management of the BlackRock UK property fund - a fund with assets totalling £3 bn (€3.5 bn) across offices, industrial, retail and alternatives.
John Mackenzie has joined Pioneer from Edinburgh University’s Roslin Innovation Centre, where he was CEO.
MacKenzie has spent 21 years working on knowledge exchange, venture creation and incubation at the interface between university and business at University of Dundee, with the last seven years at the University of Edinburgh’s Easter Bush Campus.
In his new role, MacKenzie will be responsible for driving the strategic development of Pioneer Group’s science parks in Scotland, including Edinburgh Technopole and BioCity Glasgow.
Subjit Jassy has spent the last 30 years working in real estate, during which he has developed, managed, acquired and disposed of UK and European assets in the retail, leisure, residential, shopping centre and office sectors.
Jassy, who has spent the last four years working as a consultant for the likes of Capital & Regional, Orion Capital Managers and Quadrant Estates, has been responsible for asset managing property with a collective capital value of £1.8 bn.
In his new role, Jassy will be responsible for development and asset management across Pioneer Group’s assets in the south east of England.
In 2021, Pioneer Group became the UK’s first company to combine laboratory development and operation with venture building. As well as having a portfolio that spans 11 locations - such as Nottingham, Edinburgh and Cardiff - Pioneer Group has the largest network of incubators and accelerator programmes, which are all supported by the company’s internal early-stage venture capital fund.
Richard O’Boyle, CEO of Pioneer Group, said: 'Fred, John and Subjit, who between them bring decades of executive-level real estate experience, offer a vast wealth of cross-industry knowledge that will help drive forward Pioneer Group’s expansion plans.
'From working with some of the world’s largest asset managers, to providing advice, guidance and support to start ups and scale ups, the trio will help us to continue diversifying our offering by creating a vertically-integrated platform that helps lay the path for Britain to become a scientific superpower.'
