Team

About Us

Charles Irvine is an independent real estate investment advisor.

We raise capital, deliver transaction expertise and provide tailored strategic property advice to a diverse client base, including developers, public REITs, private equity real estate managers, open- and closed-end property funds, family offices, property companies and large corporate occupiers.

Our services help clients navigate liquidity events across multiple asset classes and geographies. With a strong track record in marketing, structuring, negotiating, and executing complex mandates, each member of our team provides deep industry expertise and a commitment to service excellence.

Many of us have also operated as principals– we approach your capital markets challenges with the same care, dedication and perspective as if they were our own.

ADVISORY TEAM

Paul Ayre

Consulting Architect

Warsaw

Paul Ayre is a Consulting Architect to Charles Irvine, working from the Warsaw office, where he undertakes evaluation of development, re-development, and expansion opportunities on projects in the CEE market. He is a longstanding practitioner in Poland, with nearly 30 years’ experience in the region. After studies in London, Oxford and Washington DC, Paul worked in the US, UK and Germany before settling in Warsaw in 1996, where he has worked both for international practices and, more recently, as an independent design consultant. Working for some of the pioneers in commercial real estate in the region, he has built a strong track record especially in retail, with an extensive list of commissions from North American and Western European funds, as well as domestic developers. He also has parallel interests in, and experience of, low-carbon/low impact design and the overlap of psychology with successful public space. Paul is a UK-registered Architect and is fluent in English and Polish, with a working knowledge of German.

John R. Banka

Partner

Warsaw

John Banka is a Partner at Charles Irvine, based in Warsaw, where he co-leads client relationship management and the delivery of services related to investment and development transactions. He is a seasoned commercial real estate professional with over 25 years of experience in the Polish and CEE markets. John began his career in real estate with Golub, where he was responsible for the Warsaw Financial Center development. He later joined Ernst & Young’s real estate consulting practice before moving to Colliers, where he established and led the firm’s investment services division in Poland. Earlier in his career, John served in public sector roles, including positions with the City of Chicago’s economic development department and the New York City Public Development Corporation. John holds a Bachelor of Arts in Urban Studies from Furman University, a Master’s in Urban Planning from the University of Illinois-Chicago, and an MBA from Northwestern University. He has also completed executive coursework at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design. John is the founder and inaugural Chairman of the Urban Land Institute in Poland. He is fluent in English, Polish, German, and Spanish. BREEAM Associate.

Iwona Branska

Head of Design & Communications

Warsaw

Iwona Branska, based in Warsaw, is the Head of Design & Communications at Charles Irvine supporting the advisory team on all client and project related materials. Before joining ARC Capital Markets in 2002, Iwona was the Art Director at PZL, an advertising agency in Poland, and from 2013-2020, she served as the Creative Designer & Brand Manager at Colliers. In addition to her graphic design capabilities, Iwona is a certified professional photographer. She completed her university training at the European Academy of the Arts in Warsaw. Iwona is fluent in English and Polish.

Stefan Csejtei

Managing Director | Austria
Vienna

Stefan Csejtei, based in Vienna, is Managing Director of Charles Irvine in Austria. Stefan has 20 years of real estate experience in sales, acquisitions, asset management, project development and valuation. He previously worked at ÖBB Immobilien Management, CBRE, Colliers and the Immofinanz Group, where he was responsible for asset management of industrial and office properties in France, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia, and Romania. Stefan graduated from the Karl-Franzens University in Graz with a Master’s in Law and earned an MBA in international real estate management from the Biberach University of Applied Sciences and London South Bank University. In addition to his work with Charles Irvine, Stefan is an equity partner at Neuhold & Partner ImmobilienWERTschätzungs GmbH, a leading independent real estate valuation business in Austria, and he became a court certified real estate appraiser in 2015. Stefan also completed ESG certification with the Austrian Sustainable Building Council (ÖGNI). He is fluent in English and German.

Archi Wallace Griffin

Partner

London

Archi Wallace Griffin joined Charles Irvine in 2019 with a background in security analytics. He studied Safety & Security Management at the Hague University of Applied Sciences in the Netherlands and specialized within the intelligence and terrorism-counter terrorism field. After returning to the UK, he spent some time in private intelligence, gaining experience in varied fields of information gathering and analysis. Today Archi is focused on real estate and utilises his analytical skills to contribute to the Charles Irvine team. He predominantly works on capital raising projects for commercial and residential developers as well as contributing to wider business projects such as localized sales data gathering and database management.

Nick Hayward

Partner

London

Nick Hayward joined Charles Irvine in 2024, bringing 18 years of experience in real estate investment management. At Savills Investment Management and JPMorgan, Nick was responsible for all aspects of institutional business, from product formation to capital raising and investor relations. Nick has raised a € 2 billion for real estate funds and joint ventures. He has also been instrumental in launching several successful real estate start-ups, including a London serviced office business and a US-backed asset management firm. Nick holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics from the University of Manchester, he is a member of the Investment Property Forum, and volunteers with NACRO, a housing, justice, and education charity.

Tim Hugill, MRICS

Managing Partner

London

Tim Hugill is a Chartered Surveyor with over 25 years of experience. Previously, Tim was a Partner at Knight Frank specializing in Capital Markets transactional agency with a focus on Central London across office, retail, leisure, and residential/mixed-use sectors. Tim’s expertise includes asset management, valuation, and capital markets. Prior to Knight Frank, Tim was at BNP Paribas Real Estate and Allsop, where he was also a RICS Registered Valuer. Tim has advised on ca. £3 bn of Capital Markets transactions, covering freehold/LLH investments, developments, long-dated income-producing assets, and ground rent investments across London and the UK. He is a Member of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors and holds a Real Estate Degree from the University of Northumbria. Tim is responsible for Charles Irvine Real Estate Ltd., our RICS regulated business.

Piotr Kieltyka

Associate

Warsaw

Piotr Kieltyka, based in Warsaw, joined Charles Irvine as an Associate in 2026. He supports the team on transaction-related projects, with responsibilities including financial modelling, market research and the preparation of client and project materials across a range of mandates.

Prior to joining Charles Irvine, Piotr participated in the Finance Leadership Development Program at Johnson & Johnson, a global pharmaceutical company. During the two-and-a-half-year rotational program, he worked in Prague and Antwerp, gaining experience in accounting and financial planning & analysis. In these roles, he supported regional finance teams in business performance analysis, budgeting and financial reporting.

Piotr holds a Bachelor’s degree in Business Management from the University of Liverpool. He has completed all examinations towards the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA) qualification and is currently progressing towards full CIMA membership. He is fluent in English and Polish.

Martin Kyhos

Managing Partner |
Czech Republic & Slovakia
Prague
Martin Kyhos, based in Prague, is Managing Director of Charles Irvine in the Czech Republic & Slovakia. Martin has worked for several international companies in his 22-year career and has gained experience in capital markets, financing, principal investments, property development, leasing, asset and property management. From 2004-2010 Martin worked as Managing Director of Doughty Hanson & Co. Real Estate and was responsible for their Prague investments. From 2010-2015, he served as Managing Director of the Rustler Group, an Austrian property and facility management company. Over the last 6 years, Martin was member of Focus Estate Fund where he was supporting acquisitions in the Czech Republic and Poland. He joined ARC Capital Markets in 2022. Martin is fluent in English and Czech. BREEAM Associate.

Kasia Laszkowska

Senior Director
Warsaw

Kasia Laszkowska, based in Warsaw, and is a Senior Director with responsibilities for managing financing transactions. Prior to joining ARC Capital Markets, Kasia was the Private Debt Director at warehouse developer 7R with responsibility for capital raising as well as capital markets advisory. In her 20+ year career, Kasia has worked for banking institutions such as Santander and DnB, and on the client side at 7R and Panattoni, where she closed more than 30 commercial real estate financing deals with the total volume approaching € 1 billion. Kasia has arranged loans on office, retail and logistics properties throughout Poland.
She was also part of capital markets team within Knight Frank for 6 years in Poland where she was leading the transaction management team. Kasia is fluent in Polish and English.

Markus Leininger​

Head of Property FInance & Senior Advisor 

Luxembourg

Markus Leininger, based in Luxembourg, is a principal in SIMRES Real Estate Sarl and works as an independent director and advisor for various real estate investors and developers since 2012. Markus currently sits on the supervisory boards of Aroundtown (one of Germany’s largest listed property companies with € 32 billion in assets) and Pradera Management (responsible for 53 retail properties situated across Europe totaling more than 1.3m sqm GLA) as well as being a senior advisor to Revetas Capital, an investment manager focused on the CEE market. From 1995-2012, Markus worked at Eurohypo AG, a specialist commercial property lender, as Head of Central and Eastern Europe, which covered real estate loan origination and business development. In 2000, he was responsible for establishing RHEINHYP’s (Eurohypo predecessor) presence in the United States of America. From 2002, Mr Leininger was responsible for the overall activities of a team of professionals in Eschborn, Vienna, Warsaw, Prague, Budapest, Bucharest, Moscow and Tel Aviv. In 2007, the Northern European markets (Denmark, Sweden, Netherlands and Finland) were added to his responsibilities. He was responsible for a loan book of more than € 8 billion and in his career has led transactions more than € 15 billion. Mr Leininger holds a professional banking diploma (Bankkaufmann) and is a graduate (business administration) of Justus-Liebig-Universität, Giessen. He is fluent in German, English and French.

Laisvis Makulis

Affiliate Partner | Baltics

Vilnius

Laisvis Makulis is a Managing Partner of the REGO Group, an independent real estate services firm based in Vilnius, Lithuania and active across the Baltic region. The REGO Group was established in 2016 and, in 2025, became the affiliate of Charles Irvine in the Baltic States. Laisvis previously worked at Invest Lithuania attracting foreign direct investment to the country.
Laisvis earned his MSc in International Management from Royal Holloway University of London and his BA in Business Economics from the University of Liverpool.

Martin Pleva

Senior Director |
Czech Republic & Slovakia
Bratislava

Martin Pleva is Senior Director of Charles Irvine, based in Bratislava. In his over 20-year real estate finance career, Martin has worked for banking institutions such as Erste Group Immorent in Vienna and Bratislava and UniCredit in Bratislava. He has served as an independent debt advisor for the last decade, joining the ARC Capital Markets team in 2023. Martin has been advising middle sized Czech and Slovak developers on their debt portfolio. He was also cooperating with Crowdberry as an investment manager between 2020-2022, and also serves as a member of the investment committee of Crowdberry Property Investors fund.

Steffen Rapp

Managing Director | Germany
Frankfurt
Steffen Rapp, based in Frankfurt, is Managing Director of Charles Irvine in Germany. Steffen has over 25 years of capital markets experience in sales & origination across several asset classes including real estate, FX and commodities. Steffen previously worked at DLE Group where he served as Managing Director for Institutional Clients & Family Office Investors in Land, Logistics, Senior Living & Senior/Mezzanine Debt. At Aggregate Financial Services, then Corestate Bank, Steffen was active in real estate lending. Steffen previously worked at Deutsche Bank for over 20 years where he had several specialist roles in risk management and corporate sales in Munich, Frankfurt, and London. Steffen holds a professional banking diploma (Bankkaufman) and has completed several executive programs at the European Business School in banking and economics (Betriebswirt), real estate investment and finance, and sustainable investments. Steffen is fluent in German and English. BREEAM Associate.

Justyna Reszelewska

Controller

Warsaw

Justyna Reszelewska supports Charles Irvine in the areas of controlling, reporting, and financial analysis, providing support in monitoring financial performance and business processes.
Before joining the team, she gained professional experience in accounting offices, developing practical expertise in accounting and financial operations. At the same time, she currently works as an accountant in the construction industry, which allows her to combine operational accounting experience with an analytical approach to finance and reporting.

She holds an academic background in Finance & Accounting, as well as postgraduate studies in tax advisory, and continuously develops her competencies in finance, analysis, and business processes.

Andrius Rimdeika

Affiliate Partner | Baltics
Vilnius & Kaunas
Andrius Rimdeika is the Founder and a Managing Partner of the REGO Group, an independent real estate services firm based in Vilnius, Lithuania and active across the Baltic region. The REGO Group was established in 2016 and, in 2025, became the affiliate of Charles Irvine in the Baltic States. Andrius previously worked at Morgan Stanley in London. Andrius earned his MA in Economics from the University of Glasgow where he was the President of the Glasgow University Economics Society.

Leonard Schoeman

Head of PBSA | Europe
Warsaw
Leonard Schoeman joined Charles Irvine in 2025 to develop and manage relationships with South African and Dutch family offices, investment funds, and lenders looking to deploy capital in European real estate. For the past 20 years, Leonard has served as the managing director of Selique Properties, an independent real estate consulting and development firm. As a consultant, Leonard also serves as the senior representative for ERIS Properties in Poland with a focus on the PBSA market. Leonard previously worked at KPMG in South Africa and Deloitte in the Netherlands. Leonard earned his BCom from North-West University and his postgraduate studies in Advanced Taxation and International Transfer Pricing at the University of South Africa.

Elio Szmawonian

Senior Director
Warsaw

Elio Szmawonian is based in Warsaw and is a Senior Director with responsibilities for transaction management. Elio has over 30 years of real estate and executive experience across CEE. Before joining ARC Capital Markets (now Charles Irvine) in 2022, Elio served as the Head of Asset Management and a Board Advisor to Napollo Real Estate. Between 2007-2015, Elio was a Board Member at Mayland Real Estate with responsibilities for project development and investor relations. Between 2003-2007, Elio was the Head of Project Development at MACE in Poland with a focus on large format retail centers, office buildings and residential projects. Elio started his career as Development Director at Strabag (Bau Holdings) where he oversaw the development of 630,000 sqm of projects in Poland, Hungary, Croatia and Slovenia. In 1997, Elio became a Board Member of Hotele Warszawskie Syrena Ltd. and responsible for six hotel assets in Warsaw. Elio completed his MSc (Civil Engineering) at the Technical University of Vienna and he holds a Polish property management license. Elio is fluent in English, French, German and Polish. BREEAM Associate.

Arkadiusz Zwolinski

Director, Research & Analytics

Warsaw
Arkadiusz Zwolinski, based in Warsaw, serves as Director, Research & Analytics. In addition to acting as lead author on our proprietary research, Arek supports equity and debt mandates and transactions. Arkadiusz previously worked at Colliers in the Corporate Finance department where he was an Investment Analyst focused on residential and PRS mandates. Beforehand, Arkadiusz worked at the EWL Group as an analyst focused on financial modelling and the Dor Group as a commercial leasing specialist. He started his career in residential leasing at Mzuri. BREEAM Associate.

Mateusz Tuszynski

Research Analyst

Warsaw

David Cunnington

Managing Partner

London

David Cunnington is the founder of Charles Irvine and has over two decades of experience in finance and real estate. Prior to establishing Charles Irvine in 2014, David served as the Head of Corporate Finance at Savills Investment Management, where he joined as a founding partner in 2004. David also held positions as Managing Director of Savills IM in Italy and Chief Financial Officer, Fund Operations. During his career, he has been involved in projects to raise equity of ca. £ 1.5 bn and debt financing and refinancing of ca. £ 2 bn. Before his time at Savills IM, David was a Director at Close Brothers, the UK merchant bank, and before that worked at Arthur Andersen, now Deloitte, also in the UK. David earned his Bachelor’s in Psychology & Neuroscience from the University of Manchester and qualified as a Chartered Accountant in 1999.

Richard Divall, MRICS

Senior Advisor

London

Richard is a senior capital markets professional with over 30 years’ experience in the real estate industry, advising investors, developers and operators across the UK and European markets. He has extensive experience across both traditional commercial property and the living sectors, with a strong track record in cross-border capital markets and complex transaction structuring.

Prior to joining Charles Irvine, Richard spent more than a decade at Colliers, where he served as Head of Cross Border Capital Markets for the EMEA region and was a co-founder of the firm’s Global Capital Markets platform. In this role, Richard worked closely with international investors on acquisitions, disposals, and strategic capital partnerships across multiple European markets.

Richard subsequently joined London & Oxford Group, an Asian-owned London-based investment manager, as Head of Capital Markets, where he developed a specialist real estate strategy focused on UK PBSA, co-living and build-to-rent sectors.

He maintains longstanding relationships with senior decision-makers at major institutional and family office investors across Asia, North America, and EMEA, and has successfully introduced new capital sources into European markets throughout his career.

Richard holds a BSc (Hons) in Estate Management from Nottingham Trent University and is a Member of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (MRICS).

Tim Clegg

Managing Partner,

London

Tim Clegg, based in London, joined Charles Irvine in 2022. He has worked in finance for over 25 years, and more recently, Tim has been raising capital for alternative assets for over a decade. Tim started his career in investment banking in equity research at SBC Warburg before moving into equity sales at UBS, then prime brokerage capital introductions at Citi. At Morgan Stanley, Tim headed the firm’s Middle East hedge fund capital introductions effort before joining a start-up hedge fund with the backing of a Swiss family office. In 2019, Tim moved to Aerium as Head of Business Development.

Neil Gregory-Eaves

Managing Partner
Warsaw
Neil Gregory-Eaves established ARC Capital Markets in 2021 which merged with Charles Irvine in 2025. He is a recognized European real estate investment professional and worked at Colliers from 1992-2016 where he notably served as International Director on the Global Investment Services team. Over the course of his career, Neil has led or advised on office, retail and industrial transactions with a value of € 5 billion, including some of the largest single asset and M&A transactions in CEE- see here. From 2016, he served as a Senior Advisor to EPP, a € 3 billion retail landlord in Poland. Neil earned his BA from the University of Western Ontario majoring in Urban Geography and has completed the International Governance Program at INSEAD. Neil is fluent in English and French. BREEAM Associate.

Czcibor Dawid, MBA

Partner, CFO/COO
Warsaw

Czcibor Dawid, based in Warsaw, serves as COO/CFO to the Charles Irvine group. He has extensive international experience in financial management and executive roles.
In the first decade of his career, Czcibor worked at JP Morgan and Dresdner Bank in London and then at Citibank in Warsaw. After, Czcibor went on to hold COO role in Poland at TMS Securities and then CEO of Noble Securities, where he was responsible for the debt capital markets team. Czcibor has served on the board of Altus TFI and non-executive board of Polnord. Czcibor went on to establish Monte Grappa Partners, a Luxembourg-based AIFM fund, that he managed for 2-years and subsequently joined Bank Gospodarstwa Krajowego as a Director, before becoming CEO of BGK’s SEC-registered AIFM subsidiary. In 2008, Czcibor completed his MBA from the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business. He is fluent in English and Polish. BREEAM Associate.

Bastian Fischer

Associate | Publishing Department

Warsaw

Bastian Fischer is a marketing professional with a creative background in multimedia and design. His experience spans across branding, graphic design, and digital marketing. He has established a portfolio full of logos, designs, graphics and other creative works. In recent years, Bastian worked in ARC Capital Markets, now Charles Irvine, being part of the Publishing/Marketing team.

Advisory Board

Andy Martin

Chairman & Senior Advisor

Andy Martin is based in London and has worked in the European property sector for over 35 years. He started his career at Richard Ellis (now CBRE) and later became a Senior Partner at Strutt & Parker, where he was also the head of the commercial real estate division. After Strutt & Parker merged with BNP Paribas Real Estate in 2017, Andy became the UK CEO of BNP Paribas Real Estate and was a member of its European board. He retired from BNP Real Estate at the end of 2020. Andy holds several advisory and board positions. He is a Trustee of the Urban Land Institute and the former Chairman of the ULI’s UK Council. He is also a retained advisor to Stifel Nicolaus Europe, a US investment bank, and he is a member of the advisory board of Hodes Weill & Associates, a leading US placement agent. Andy has also served as a Director of the Investment Property Forum from 2001-2009 during which time he was Chairman from 2004-2005.

Anni Hoenicke

Non Executive Director

Anni Hoenicke is based in Frankfurt and has worked in international real estate and finance for over three decades. She is currently serving as Managing Director of Gulf Islamic Investments in Europe. Previously, Anni was the global head of real estate lending at DekaBank and beforehand, Anni was the head of real estate lending for western and northern Europe at Eurohypo and its predecessor Rheinhyp. In addition to her responsibilities to Charles Irvine, Anni holds several advisory and non-executive roles including with German senior housing developer and operator Wohnvoll AG and the GRI. She is fluent in German and English.

Przemyslaw A. Schmidt

Non Executive Director

Przemyslaw Aleksander Schmidt is a Non-Executive Director of Charles Irvine. Przemek is the former Chairman and a Founder of Trigon, the largest independent investment bank in Poland. During his banking career, Przemek was advising or supervising more than 80 corporate transactions, the total value of which exceeded € 12 billion. Przemek holds a Master’s degree from the A. Mickiewicz University in Poznań and completed various programs at Georgetown University, University of California, Hastings (Fulbright Fellow), Leiden University, TMC Asser Institute and INSEAD. Przemek has served and/or chaired the boards of directors of various public and private companies. He is a certified systemic-psychodynamic executive coach (INSEAD – ICC4 and ACG1). Przemek is fluent in English and Polish and proficient in German, Spanish and Russian.

Careers

Charles Irvine is a pan European real estate investment advisor. Our professionals draw on significant capital markets and banking experience and they all share our stated mission and core values.

We are seeking to add experienced, market leading real estate investment professionals that are entrepreneurial, driven and share our passion for excellence and our client-centric approach. We offer an equity partnership, competitive compensation and a high-performance culture. Our priority growth markets are Munich, Milan and Amsterdam.

If you are interested to learn more, we would be delighted to discuss internal opportunities.

Join the Team

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