Meet the team

Benjamin joined Octopus in 2010. He is responsible for leading Octopus Real Estate and chairs the Investment Committee. Prior to Octopus, Benjamin invested across a range of sectors at YFM Equity Partners and Interregnum. He has an MBA from the University of Cambridge and a Bachelor of Commerce (Hons) from the University of Auckland, New Zealand.

Kevin has over 25 years’ real estate experience. He joined Octopus Real Estate in 2018 and heads up the team for raising funds and investing to facilitate the development of retirement communities. Kevin sits on the Investment Committee and has a Masters from Oxford Brookes School of the Built Environment.

Michael joined Octopus Real Estate in March 2021. Previously, Michael was a Founding Director and Board Member of Lothbury Investment Management. Michael has been a member of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors since 2005 and holds a BLE (Hons) in Land Economy from the University of Aberdeen.

Ed is Head of Corporate Development, he sits on the Clinical Assurance Board and previously led our Care Homes Fund Team. Prior to joining Octopus in 2017, Ed was a lawyer with international law firm, Allen and Overy. He has a BA in Economics from Durham University and an MBA from the University of Cambridge, Judge Business School.

Ludo established the commercial real estate debt platform in 2013 and is the manager of Octopus Commercial Real Estate Debt Funds I, II & III; he also sits on the Investment Committee. Ludo has a background in real estate fund and investment management, including with Jones Lang LaSalle and Henderson Global.

Steve joined Octopus in 2018 and is responsible for Buy to Let, Regulated and Unregulated Bridging loans. With close to 20 years in financial services, Steve has a wealth of experience in the intermediary and lending market.

Andy joined Octopus in 2021.  His team provides bespoke funding solutions to property developers to enable them to deliver ‘living’ assets, from residential through to student accommodation schemes and care homes. In a career spanning just under 20 years, Andy has gained significant experience including working for Lloyds Banking Group, Santander and most recently Secure Trust Bank.

Chris joined Octopus in 2009 and is a qualified accountant (CIMA). He has held various financial controlling roles across the Octopus business. He has a strong background in accounting and financial reporting and currently runs the part of Octopus’ Commercial Finance function which focuses on the performance of the fund management group, including Octopus Real Estate and Octopus Ventures.

Richard joined Octopus in June 2017 and has over 35 years’ financial services experience. He is responsible for protecting our customers and the business by ensuring we maintain rigorous governance around our products and services.

Zoe works with our team on all people-related matters as our HR partner. She joined the Octopus Real Estate team in 2020, and also works with a number of charities and foundations.

Steve joined Octopus in 2018 and is responsible for Buy to Let, Regulated and Unregulated Bridging loans. With close to 20 years in financial services, Steve has a wealth of experience in the intermediary and lending market.

Daniel joined octopus in 2015.  His core focus is building our sales team, and fostering long-term relationships with clients including brokers, introducers and borrowers. He also helps to create new products across the residential sectors.

Ellis joined Octopus Real Estate in 2017. He focuses on overseeing internal day-to-day operations within the Sales team, building processes and improving the customer journey.

Sophie heads up our customer service team, supporting our clients’ day to day needs.

Chris heads up the Northern Region activities and sales from our Manchester office. He brings over ten years’ experience in mortgage advice and business development. Chris joined us in 2018.

Alex looks after our London brokers supporting them with Residential, Commercial and Development Finance. Previously he worked in foreign exchange and prior to that he managed an estate agent. He joined Octopus Real Estate in 2016.

Stephen covers the Southeast region supporting brokers with Residential, Commercial and Development Finance. Previously he worked in residential real estate helping clients find their dream home, before joining Octopus in 2017.

Oliver covers the East and Southeast regions supporting brokers with Residential, Commercial and Development Finance. Oliver joined Octopus Real Estate in 2018 bringing a background in property finance.

Samantha is an Internal BDM who supports the External BDMs in the South of England. She joined us in 2018.

Becky is an Internal BDM who supports the External BDMs in the North of England. She joined us in 2021.

Mike is an External BDM who covers the North West to the East Midlands.  He joined in 2019 with a background in Commercial Finance Brokering.

Kayley is an Internal BDM who supports the External BDMs in the North of England. She joined us in 2020.

Suparn joined Octopus in 2014. He has been working within the credit function for over 8 years and is responsible for Bridging within the Residential Lending team. Suparn has a MEng in Computer Science from the University of Bristol.

Peter is focused on the residential lending activities and manages a team of credit managers across the London and Manchester offices. He has oversight of credit risk and is responsible for setting lending strategy. Peter joined us in 2013.

Ludo established the commercial real estate debt platform in 2013 and is the manager of Octopus Commercial Real Estate Debt Funds I, II & III; he also sits on the Investment Committee. Ludo has a background in real estate fund and investment management, including with Jones Lang LaSalle and Henderson Global.

Dominic joined in 2014 and is the Manager of Octopus Commercial Real Estate Debt Syndication Funds, focusing on our commercial property lending and fund management activities. He is a qualified chartered surveyor and previously worked for Standard Life and Jones Lang LaSalle. He has  a BSc in Economics from the University of Exeter and an MSc in Estate Management from London South Bank University.

Nick leads the commercial term product; he sources new debt investment opportunities on commercial property throughout the UK. A qualified chartered surveyor, Nick joined the team in 2017

James is focused on commercial bridging and leads our lending into the Republic of Ireland. He is a qualified chartered surveyor and has been part of the team since 2017.

Stuart is the main point of contact for commercial servicing and redemptions. He has been part of the Octopus Real Estate team since 2018.

Clare joined in 2017.  She specialises in the origination of commercial real estate debt transactions. In addition to her role, she is a member of the Association of Real Estate Fund’s Future Generation Committee. Clare has a BSc in Sociology from Loughborough University, and a MSc in Real Estate Investment & Finance from Henley Business School.

Andy joined Octopus in 2021.  His team provides bespoke funding solutions to property developers to enable them to deliver ‘living’ assets, from residential through to student accommodation schemes and care homes. In a career spanning just under 20 years, Andy has gained significant experience including working for Lloyds Banking Group, Santander and most recently Secure Trust Bank.

Matt oversees the credit process for the development team. His background is in banking, covering restructuring and relationship management. He has been part of our team since 2017.

Sam is a Senior Credit Manager within the Development Lending Team and joined Octopus in 2021. Sam’s background is in banking, covering a variety of roles including relationship management, debt structuring and recovery.

Sam joined Octopus in 2015 and has managed relationships in our residential team before moving to the development team as an originator. He is focused on residential and PBSA development business across the UK. Sam joined after graduating in economics from the University of Bristol.

Jenna works as an originator in the development team, building relationships with developers and structuring deals that meet their needs.

Amy joined in 2018.  She manages the residential development portfolio from loan completion through to redemption including the monitoring of development sites and managing relationships post completion.

Uliana joined in 2015. She heads our Development Light team looking after all development finance deals below £5m, and also underwriting the more complex transactions within our development offering.

Dean joined in 2018. He originally started in the Residential Credit team and now specialises in Development. Prior to this he worked at Shawbrook Bank.

George works as an originator in the development team, building relationships with developers and structuring deals that meet their needs. George was previously a Senior Transaction Manager at Homes England and holds master’s degrees in property finance and civil engineering.

Nora heads up Portfolio Management. Prior to joining, Nora spent 5 years at Zorin Finance where she headed the Monitoring and Construction team. She holds a Building Engineering degree from the University of Navarre as well as a MSc in Construction Project Management by the University of Westminster. She is also a member of the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors.

Lauren joined in 2021 and manages the residential development portfolio from day one through to redemption, including monitoring development of sites, restructuring facilities as well as originating business through repeat business. Lauren has previously worked in residential development, and previously worked at Close Brothers.

Kevin has over 25 years’ real estate experience. He joined Octopus Real Estate in 2018 and heads up the team for raising funds and investing to facilitate the development of retirement communities. Kevin sits on the Investment Committee and has a Masters from Oxford Brookes School of the Built Environment.

Marcus oversees the development and construction of our retirement living schemes. He joined the Octopus Real Estate team in 2020.

Domas joined Octopus in 2016. He focuses on growing Octopus’s retirement living strategy, with time split between fundraising, origination and execution. Domas previously worked at Henley Investments and EY. He has an MSc and BSc in Economics from the University of Sheffield, and is a Chartered Accountant and Chartered Financial Analyst.

Michael joined Octopus Real Estate in March 2021. Previously, Michael was a Founding Director and Board Member of Lothbury Investment Management. Michael has been a member of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors since 2005 and holds a BLE (Hons) in Land Economy from the University of Aberdeen.

Chris heads up origination of new investment opportunities for our care homes team, working closely with operators and developers. Chris has over 25 years’ experience in healthcare real estate. Prior to joining Octopus he worked at Knight Frank and Savills specialising in the acquisition and sale of healthcare assets on behalf of investors and operators.

Max joined Octopus in 2018. He focusses on sourcing and progressing new care home acquisitions as well as portfolio management.

Stavros joined in 2015. He is responsible for sourcing and executing transactions and portfolio management. Stavros has been a member of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors since 2019 and holds an MSc in Real Estate from Bayes Business School.

Ashley sources and develops new care home development schemes across the Midlands and North. He has been part of our investing team for over 10 years.

Stephanie joined Octopus in 2019. She is  responsible for executing transactions and portfolio management. Stephanie holds a BSc in Real Estate Management from Oxford Brookes University and a MSc in Financial Analysis and Fund Management from the University of Exeter.

Peter joined in August 2021 having spent the previous 4 years with a JV partner of Octopus. He is an Investment Director for the affordable housing fund building a pipeline of housing development for the fund to acquire, including fund raising. He is independent non-executive for a small housing association, Buckinghamshire Housing Association and has over 20 years affordable housing.

Retiring CEO of Moat Housing, a major Housing Association covering London and the South East. Board Member of the National Housing Federation 2015 2020. Various previous senior roles across real estate banking and finance.

Ed is Head of Corporate Development, he sits on the Clinical Assurance Board and previously led our Care Homes Fund Team. Prior to joining Octopus in 2017, Ed was a lawyer with international law firm, Allen and Overy. He has a BA in Economics from Durham University and an MBA from the University of Cambridge, Judge Business School.

Lauren focussed on new investment opportunities and funding lines for Octopus Real Estate, including their delivery. She has worked at Octopus since 2013, originally with Octopus Investments before moving to Real Estate in 2016, working within real estate debt, and managing teams. She moved into her current role in 2020.

Benjamin joined in January 2022. He works on new investment opportunities and fund strategies. Previously he worked on the investment side of a number of asset managers and developers, and in the Capital Advisors team at CBRE.

Sheila leads the Clinical Assurance team, which promotes a culture of best practice in clinical assurance across our portfolio. She has been with the team since 2015.

Carrie helps to promote a culture of best practice in clinical assurance. She is a registered nurse with over 15 years’ experience across the NHS and private sector. Carrie joined us in 2018.