PropertyGuru announces exciting leadership change
PropertyGuru announces exciting leadership change
Big reveal today with leadership transitions to mark the next chapter of growth for PropertyGuru
PropertyGuru Group today announced an important leadership change involving Steve Melhuish, Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) AND Hari V. Krishnan, President and Chief Business Officer (CBO).
Effective immediately, Krishnan is promoted to CEO, while Melhuish, who has been CEO of the Group for the past nine years, will step into a Vice Chairman role in order to focus on the company’s longer-term strategy, business growth and key client relationships.
Krishnan joins the two co-founders – Steve Melhuish and Jani Rautianen – on the Board of Directors for the Group.
“PropertyGuru is in a very strong position today, with our brands holding the number 1 position in all our core markets” Melhuish says, “Revenue and traffic continue to grow rapidly, and we’re on track to return to profitability next year – after five years of aggressive investment in regional expansion, product innovation, marketing, and developing a world-class leadership team. As such, Jani and I felt that now was the right time to pass the baton.”
This transition was initiated two years ago by Melhuish and Rautianen, with the goal of developing a world-class leadership team and succession plan.
Krishnan was identified as a potential CEO successor in 2015, and joined the company in January 2016 with over 15 years’ leadership experience in the Technology industry, both in the Asia and the US. Prior to joining PropertyGuru, he was the Vice President for Asia Pacific & Japan at Linkedin.
He says: “PropertyGuru has been built by a wonderful team of entrepreneurs focusing on real consumer needs in our markets. I am excited to lead the Company’s next phase of growth, working with our talented team to bring more exciting innovations to property seekers and to deliver more value to our customers.”
Other leadership changes include Jani Rautiainen, Co-Founder, Managing Director and Board Member of PropertyGuru Group, will transition into a new Executive Director role. He will be supporting the Group’s longer-term business development, continuing to help shape the Company and product strategy, and remains an active Board member.
Lewis Ng, currently Managing Director for the Group’s Singapore operations, will be promoted to become Chief Business Officer, effective immediately. In addition to overseeing Singapore, Lewis will now focus on driving revenue growth across all markets.
PropertyGuru was masterminded in 2006 following Melhuish’s struggle to find a new home.
In the nine years since, Melhuish and Rautianen have developed the company into Southeast Asia’s leading online property platform. The site is used by over 16 million property seekers every month to find their dream home.
The platform generates over SGD15 billion (USD11 billion) worth of transactions per annum for its 35,000 real estate developers.
Headquartered in Singapore, the Group now has more than 420 staff in offices in Thailand (DD Property), Indonesia (Rumah), and Malaysia (PropertyGuru Malaysia).
In January 2016 it was announced that PropertyGuru would be taking over Ensign Media’s assets to form PropertyGuru International, publisher of Property Report and organisers of the Asia Property Awards.
Source: Property Report