Criterion Capital has strengthened its senior leadership team with the appointment of Vaqas Farooq as chief executive officer, Steve Silvester as chief financial officer and the promotion of Thomas Rowland to director of development and design.
Farooq, who has more than 25 years’ experience advising on major real estate transactions and regeneration projects, joins Criterion from Deloitte, where he led the firm’s UK real estate legal business.
Silvester has more more than 20 years’ experience scaling capital-intensive and investor-backed businesses across real estate and infrastructure and previously worked for the likes of Skyports Infrastructure and NewRiver REIT.
Rowland has more than 15 years’ experience across architecture and development and has worked for Criterion for three years.
Farooq said: “Criterion has a rare energy about it. It is dynamic, tenacious and prepared to take on opportunities and challenges that many other real estate businesses would shy away from – and that was a huge part of what attracted me to the company. There is already an extraordinary platform here, but what excites me most is what we can build from it. We have the appetite to move quickly, think differently and take on complex opportunities with real conviction. I’m excited to work with the Criterion team as we continue to grow in the UK, expand internationally and scale the business for its next chapter.”
