PropertyGuru to get new Chairman

SINGAPORE: Top property marketplace PropertyGuru announced on Thursday (Nov 16) the appointment of a new Chairman whose term begins at the beginning of next year. Mr Ray Ferguson will step into his role as an independent non-executive director and Chairman of the Board of PropertyGuru, effective Jan 1, 2024.

The company’s outgoing Chairman is Mr Olivier Lim, who took on the role in September 2019. PropertyGuru noted that during the tenure of Mr Lim, the company ventured into related fields such as fintech, data, and software solutions, as well as broadened its scope in South East Asia by way of acquisitions in Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore.

It was also under Mr Lim’s chairmanship that PropertyGuru was successfully publicly listed on the New York Stock Exchange in March of last year.

As for the new Chair’s background, Mr Ferguson was with Standard Chartered Bank for almost three decades, working across Asia, the Americas, the Middle East and Europe. He has served as Chairman and director of several of the bank’s subsidiary boards. His most recent posting was Standard Chartered’s Chief Executive Officer for Singapore operations.

Currently, he is the Chairman of Singlife Group and serves on the board of Paragon REIT as an independent non-executive director. Mr Ferguson is also the Chairman and Co-founder of ZEN Yachts and is the non-executive Chairman at Hashstacs Pte. Ltd, a fintech firm.

Moreover, the incoming PropertyGuru Chair is not only a member of the Singapore Institute of Directors but was also awarded a

Distinguished Fellow title from the Institute of Banking and Finance, Singapore. Mr Ferguson, who holds a Master of Business Administration degree from Henley Management College, is additionally an Associate of the Institute of Bankers in Scotland.

“On behalf of the Board and management team, I would like to thank Olivier for his leadership over the past four years. He has been an invaluable mentor to the Group leadership team and me personally as we navigated a challenging economic environment with strong growth, expansion and making some big bets.

Most significantly, under his guidance we took the Company public, and we thank him for all his contributions to the Company. As we plan for our next phase of growth, I am personally delighted to be working with a seasoned chairman and business builder like Ray,” said Mr Hari V. Krishnan, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of PropertyGuru.

Read also: PropertyGuru: 2023 likely to be record-breaking year for million-dollar flat transactions /TISG