Andy Street CBE

Mayor
West Midlands

Andy Street was elected as the first Mayor of the West Midlands on May 4 2017. The primary function of the role is to chair the West Midlands Combined Authority and brings with it significant powers over transport, housing, skills and jobs. Before becoming Mayor, Andy combined a career with John Lewis, Britain’s most successful workers’ co-operative, with a host of high-profile economic development roles, working with local and national government. He was the Chair of the Greater Birmingham & Solihull Local Enterprise Partnership between 2011 and 2016, helping to build the relationships that have underpinned the economic growth of the region. Additionally, he has been lead non-executive director for the Department for Communities and Local Government as well as a member of the Prime Minister’s Business Advisory Group.

In June 2015, Andy was awarded the CBE for services to the national economy. He was named the ‘Most Admired Leader’ of the year by business magazine, Management Today in 2014. He received the ‘President’s award’ from the Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce for his work in the region. 

Tim Johnson

Chief Executive
City of Wolverhampton Council

Tim is Chief Executive of the City of Wolverhampton Council having been appointed to the role in July 2018. Prior to this, he was the council’s Deputy Managing Director and Strategic Director of Place where his portfolio of responsibilities included city development, city housing, city transport, city environment, corporate property and commercialism. Tim is an experienced strategic local government director, specialising in place shaping, organisational change management and community regeneration. He has a proven track record of developing and delivering complex, innovative projects and programmes and has overseen a regeneration programme which has £3.7 billion of public and private investment either on site or planned in the city. In the five years he has worked at the City of Wolverhampton Council, Tim has played a major part in the transformation of the city and the council. This was nationally recognised in June 2017 when the City of Wolverhampton Council won a record four awards at the prestigious MJ Local Government Achievement Awards 2017 including Local Authority of the Year, Most Improved Council and Senior Leadership Team of the Year. Tim has over 20 years’ experience in local government working for Liverpool City Council, London Borough of Hillingdon, Doncaster Metropolitan Borough Council and Walsall Metropolitan Borough Council before joining the City of Wolverhampton Council in May 2013. He represents City of Wolverhampton Council on a number of external forums across the region and city including the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA), Association of Black Country Authorities and Black Country Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) and as Chair of the Board of Governors at the City of Wolverhampton College.

Stephen Walker

Head of UK Business Space
Aberdeen Standard Investments

Head of UK Business Space Portfolio Management, leading a team of 30 asset managers with responsibility for cross-sector assets on a UK wide basis. Stephen has carried out Fund and Asset Management positions at Aberdeen Standard Investments and has wide-ranging investment and strategic asset management experience gained in both private practice and client side positions. Stephen is Chair of ASI’s Global Proptech team and drives policy in relation to Flexible Office provision. He is also a member of the Property Investment Committee (EMEA) considering transactions and projects across the UK.

Robin Dobson

UK Director of Development and Construction
Hammerson

Having trained as a Civil Engineer and then Chartered Surveyor, Robin leads the development team and is responsible for bringing forward future regeneration schemes together with retail/asset extensions. Completed projects include The Oracle, Reading; Bullring, Birmingham; Highcross, Leicester; Cabot Circus, Bristol; Union Square, Aberdeen; Victoria Gate, Leeds and Watermark, Southampton.

He also worked with Hammerson France to deliver Terrasses du Port, a €450m retail led redevelopment of the Marseille docks which opened in 2014.

Robin also has responsibility for bringing forward pipeline Joint Venture development projects in Croydon and Brent Cross in London.

Robin sits on the CR Board and Investment Committee at Hammerson and is a member of the BPF and FRICS.

Erin Amon

Market Analyst
CoStar

Erin Amon is CoStar Group’s Market Analyst for the Birmingham market as well as London and other South East markets. Erin is responsible for writing and maintaining daily office and industrial market and submarket reports which inform decisions of developers, lenders, property managers, and investors both locally and globally. Erin works with a team of researchers to collect commercial real estate data, which she uses jointly with market interaction to analyse trends in rents, vacancies, demand drivers, construction activity, and investments across her markets and the submarkets within.

Erin earned her Bachelor’s degree in Sociology and Psychology from Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts. She has been with CoStar Group for five years, first as a researcher in Washington, DC. She moved to the Columbia, Maryland office in 2015 as a Market Analyst for Texas and then North Carolina markets before joining the London office in the autumn of 2017.  

Jo Salmon

Head of Estates and Asset Management
Oval Real Estate

Jo, a chartered Surveyor joined Oval Real Estate a year ago to head up their Estates and Asset Management Team, with primary focus on a significant and exciting portfolio in Digbeth, including Custard Factory, Fazeley and The Bond.

Prior to this, Jo has over 20 years’ experience successfully managing various portfolios of large complicated property assets and as shopping and mixes use centres, improving occupancy and efficiency to increase values and enhance customer experience.

Jo is a strong advocate of partnership working and has played a key role in delivery of Town Centre Management and Business Improvement Districts.