Real estate consultancy Hollis has appointed the former chair of Cushman & Wakefield’s UK business Digby Flower as interim CEO.
Flower will work alongside the existing board to establish a strategy and structure for the business and he will lead the search for a new long term CEO from outside the business, which became employee-owned in October 2021.
Part of this new structure will see Hollis chairman and founder John Woodman and managing director Alex Brown step down from the management board. Both of them will continue within the business in an advisory capacity.
Woodman said: “In the space of 30 years, the business has gone from three people with a minimal turnover, to 500 people nudging a £50m turnover. Along the way we have evolved as we have expanded and we have always punched above our weight. To achieve the ambitious plans we have for future growth, we need to change the way the business is managed and structured, but without losing the culture we have worked hard to embed. This started by switching to an employee ownership model two years ago and this next step will be a continuation of our succession planning.
“We have a group of directors who are the best in the industry at what they do as surveyors, environmental consultants, project managers and engineers. The business has become a market leader and a trusted provider on the back of this and they will ensure that we maintain this reputation going forward. To support them in growing Hollis further though, we need additional leadership whose expertise is in the management of growing businesses.
“Digby is not only someone who knows the property industry inside out, he also knows what makes Hollis tick. He has watched our journey closely as an industry peer, friend and often confidant, so has the perfect balance of understanding our business, whilst still having the objectivity of an outsider. He also has almost unrivalled experience in remodelling and growing market leading real estate consultancies. Instrumental in instigating a change programme at Cushman & Wakefield UK and Ireland as CEO and then chairman, the business thrived under his leadership.”
Flower added: “I have always admired the way Hollis has managed to grow organically whilst staunchly retaining its independence and its ability to compete with its much bigger competitors simply by being the best at what they do and by constantly innovating. This is a business that has always been driven by its people and I look forward to working closely with those people to put in place the structure needed to grow their company even further, for them. The board has a very clear vision and ambition; my job is simply to use my experience to ensure that they fulfil this.
