At Gaze the most important kind of building is team building. Meet the visionary developers, property managers and investment advisors behind a unique portfolio.
The Gaze team is not just about depth of experience, but breadth. The careers of Gaze's closest managers and advisors literally straddle the world and demonstrate a great deal of global mobility. Founder David Gaze is a leading figure in South Pacific property development, yet he leads Gaze Holdings from its base in London as a pioneer in total property optimisation. Simon Thompson, Joint Managing Director of Gaze Commercial, managed a huge portfolio of British retail properties for BHS, with budgets up to $100 million a year, but crossed the globe to manage the portfolio of New Zealand's largest retailer because of the sheer vitality of the Australasian property market. Gaze Commercial's other Joint Managing Director, Jeff Cowan, has had a similarly expansive career. Jeff has worked around the world to amass the world's-best-practice disciplines that form the core of his approach to property optimisation.
This global breadth in the team is also matched by interdisciplinary breadth. This is exemplified by Gaze's Chartered Financial Analyst, Andrew Barnett. Andrew has excelled in diverse roles for global companies such as Citibank, Commerzbank and the former Banker's Trust, including Fund Manager, Derivatives Analyst, Lending Manager and Project Manager for financial and I.T. projects. An inhouse global investment banker is an invaluable source of feedback for the Gaze Holdings investment portfolio.
From Land's End to John O'Groats
Gaze Holdings can also access a wealth of astute advice and discerning feedback from its team of board advisors, such as Paul East, Queen's Counsel and a former New Zealand Attorney General and High Commissioner to the UK. Advisor Jonathan Eriksen is the highly-respected actuary who founded Eriksen & Associates, which consults to global underwriters on every aspect of their life businesses. Or Peter Wall, a property manager and developer whose portfolio once contained not just the Land's End tourist attraction but John O'Groats as well.
Gaze is a company of diverse operations in many locations, so it is essential to have advisors with the mental agility to take in a very big picture. Advisors such as Rick Ellis, who not only managed the property portfolio of one of Australasia's largest conglomerates, but as Company Secretary had purview over no less than two hundred and fifty companies. Or Colin Wise, who after a career at CEO level for companies such as Cadbury Schweppes is now a director for market leaders in a diverse range of sectors, from financial services to food. At the other end of the scale it is also important to have a view from the commercial end of the real estate market, which is why Gaze relies on the invaluable input of one of Australasia's most successful real estate consultants, Gaze Director Anne Gaze.
Why such breadth and diversity in a property development team? Because opportunities can come from any angle, and it takes wide-ranging minds to see them, evaluate them, develop them and realise their potential. That is why David Gaze considers that the best thing he has ever built is the team he has today.
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