The incoming presidential team at the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) has started its reign two months early as the crisis-hit body faces major calls for reform.
RICS has confirmed the appointment of its presidential team for 2021-22, with Clement Lau becoming president, supported by Ann Gray as president-elect and Tina Paillet as senior vice-president.
The appointments come in the wake of a raft of top-brass resignations, with chief executive Sean Tompkins, president Kath Fontana, interim chair of the Governing Council Chris Brooke and chair of the management board Paul Marcuse all standing down from their posts earlier this month.
Incoming RICS president Lau is currently the director and head of development and valuations for commercial property with Hongkong Land. He is a fellow member of RICS (FRICS) and has held a number of roles within the institution, including as chair of the RICS Hong Kong Board and member of the RICS Asia Regional Board.
Gray is a real estate broker and licensed architect based in Los Angeles with more than 25 years’ experience. She runs her own practice in California and previously held the US Market Seat on the Governing Council.
Paillet is an international real estate executive with more than 25 years of experience in the built environment across asset management, development projects and sustainable investment.
The resignations at RICS followed the publication of an independent review into the body, which found that four non-executives who raised concerns over an audit were wrongly dismissed.
The review from Alison Levitt QC has described a “power struggle” at the organisation and said that “sound governance principles were not followed”.
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