Real estate consultancy Hollis has appointed Andy Hay as the firm’s new CEO.
Hay will formally join the business in May and take over from interim CEO Digby Flower, who will become chairman of Hollis.
Hay, who has a wealth of leadership experience within the property sector, previously worked for CBRE and was most recently managing director at Colliers, where he was responsible for delivering the firm’s pan-European property management service line, as well as driving its digitalisation and ESG offering across Europe.
Flower said: “Andy has a proven track record of delivering significant growth to already successful businesses with an international reach, whilst also leading strategic change within large corporate organisations within real estate and other industries. His strong digital and ESG focus and desire to be innovative fits well with the direction Hollis has been going and what has made Hollis the success it is today. He comes with a reputation for understanding the importance of developing the people within a business, which aligns with the Hollis ethos.”
Hay added: “Since becoming part of the real estate industry in 2006, I have always been aware of Hollis as a business that was constantly growing and being at the forefront of innovating and pushing the entire industry to evolve. It has always been admired and respected by competitors and clients alike for the way in which it has developed incredibly talented teams and individuals. They are the people with the ‘Hollis Way’ in their DNA and who will help preserve the company’s distinctive culture and ensure our continued commitment to excellence for our clients.”
Hollis has also appointed four new strategic directors from outside the business. Benjamin Ralph and Deepika Singhal will join Hollis as directors in April to head up the building safety and fire service and lead on building physics services in the UK respectively, Alistair Cooper will become director and head of dilapidations in June and a new director will also join the firm to establish and lead a new development management service in September 2024.
John Woodman, founder and outgoing chairman of Hollis, said: “Over the years we have explored many ways of growing and pushing the business forward; my desire has always been to maintain our independence and put our people first. Switching to an employee-owned trust two and a half years ago was the first step of putting a succession plan in place that secured this independence.
“We already have a group of directors who are among the best in the industry at what they do; together with a new CEO and strategic directors who bring with them experience from outside of Hollis, they will be able to grow our business even further.”
