Chestertons appoints chief marketing officer

Chestertons has appointed Giles Milner as its first chief marketing officer (CMO). Having worked as the company’s marketing director for over 10 years, he takes the more strategic role in order to support the agency’s growth plans.

After a spell as a sales agent at Foxtons, Milner enjoyed a career in marketing communications before joining Chesterton Humberts in 2011 as PR and marketing manager.

In 2012, he took over the agency’s marketing department and became marketing director in 2014, the same year it re-branded to Chestertons.

Milner, who played a significant part in the rolling out the Chestertons brand after it de-merged from Humberts in 2014, is responsible for a number of key marketing initiatives including Chestertons Polo in the Park, which has just celebrated its 12th year.

The new chief marketing officer is also a founding trustee of the Chestertons Foundation, helping drive the agency’s charitable activities.

John Ennis, CEO of Chestertons, commented: “Giles’ motivation and passion is continuously felt throughout Chestertons, and his hard work and creativity has allowed the business and brand to become what it is today. After joining the company last year, I quickly recognised the vital contribution he makes to the business and his elevation to CMO is recognition of that.”

Knight Frank announces 250 promotions

Knight Frank has announced 250 promotions across the firm with effect from 1 July 2023.

The Partnership’s promotions include 51 to partner, 77 to associate, 74 to senior level and 48 career development framework promotions.

This year, 50% of partner promotions and 40% of new Associates are female, moving the gender balance of Partners in a positive direction.

Knight Frank has also aligned its promotion frameworks and from 2024 will have a single career development framework operating across the partnership, increasing opportunities for development and growth in a fair and transparent way.

William Beardmore-Gray, senior partner and group chair, Knight Frank, said: “Despite market disruption, Knight Frank has outperformed expectations, which is testament to our international strength, the power of partnership and a huge amount of hard work from our brilliant people globally.

“We are pleased that 50% of partner promotions and 40% of new associates are female, moving the gender balance of Partners in a positive direction, progress that we will seek to maintain and increase in future years. Providing meaningful career paths for the best talent in real estate is key to the future success of our business and I would like to congratulate everyone at Knight Frank who has earned a promotion this year and wish them every success in their next chapter within our partnership.”

Rob Griffiths joins Housemark as new CEO

Housemark has appointed Rob Griffiths as its new chief executive officer.

Griffiths brings a wealth of housing sector and leadership experience to housing data specialist firm. He previously led housing management software provider, Aareon UK, and has more than 20 years of technology and business services experience.

He said: “I’ve admired the organisation from afar and seen it become a standard bearer within the sector for data and performance excellence, so I’m really excited to get started and build on our pedigree, delivering the performance benchmarking and insights our customers expect.”

He continued: said: “Landlords are currently operating in an incredibly challenging environment with factors such as the cost-of-living crisis, rent caps, cases of damp and mould and new regulation all creating performance issues.

“I want to work with our members and clients to support them during these difficult times. It’s vital organisations have straightforward access to data in one place to inform and guide their decision-making process. I have already spoken with customers who agree data provides a window into the world of insight and prediction.

“Data can help the sector to move from a traditional reactive operational environment to one that can be more proactive and forward-looking, which in turn enables landlords to improve many aspects of their business.”