International Board
Mace's global operations are overseen by its international board. The board is headed by Marcus Burley, with the other members as below:
Strategic Board
Marcus is the international chief operating officer, an owner of Mace and is responsible for the company's international operations, which is currently managing in excess of $US20 billion worth of projects.
He has more than 20 years industry experience and has been responsible at project manager and director level for the successful completion of major retail, commercial, leisure and residential projects.
He was the project director on the Jumeirah Beach Residences project, the largest single phase residential development in the world. The 22 million square foot development incorporates 40 high rise towers and four levels of mixed use podium.
Marcus has played a key role in securing and subsequently developing successful partnering and joint venture agreements with three of the Middle East’s largest and most respected developers.
Peter is commercial director of Mace International Limited and the holding company Mace Holdings Limited. Peter joined Mace in 1996 and soon after its inception in 1997 joined the founders of Mace International where he initially made a major contribution in developing the business in Eastern Europe and CIS countries before concentrating on the financial aspects of the international companies.
Peter trained as a quantity surveyor and has wide experience of all commercial activities, systems and processes within construction management both in the UK and abroad; at one time he was responsible for the largest project in London and since then he has had global exposure to major projects.
Peter has an amiable style and a track record of getting things done for clients and internally within Mace. The constant challenge in Peter's life is to bring best commercial and financial practice to the countries where Mace works and ensure that the company's values are matched wherever we are in the world.
As Director for sub-Saharan Africa Nick was appointed to identify and develop opportunities in the African market. Since setting up the Mace business in South Africa in 2009 and developing an Africa focused operation, Nick has evolved a business now yielding numerous projects in a variety of sectors and operating in 10 countries across the continent (as of end of year 2011).
Nick comes from an international background having lived and worked in West Africa, Southern Africa, the Middle East, the UK and the US with 20 years of experience excelling in managing projects and businesses in challenging environments. He has operated at senior management level for multinational organisations including Goldman Sachs, Costain Plc and Taylor Woodrow Plc.
During his career, Nick has delivered capital build, strategic, change and business improvement assignments within the commercial, PFI/PPP, mixed-used, infrastructure, energy and financial services sectors.
Nick is a chartered professional and holds an MBA from Cranfield School of Management.
John Jo is responsible for Mace's work in the Asia-Pacific region. He joined Mace in May 2004 and developed Mace's Italian business with a wide range of projects. Works in Italy included the part-refurbishment of a five star hotel in central Rome as well as project monitoring roles for Northern European clients in Italy. Over the last five years, he has led Mace’s multi-disciplinary design and construction team to deliver embassies and other facilities for diplomatic clients on a worldwide basis.
His primary skills include enthusing teams to lead their individual projects and programmes to interface complex local, national and international requirements, driven by client demands and regulation into a clear brief and specification for a project and then executing the project safely to time, budget and the required quality. He has successfully integrated the aesthetic visions of international signature architects into the economic requirements and development programmes of blue-chip clients, public sector organisations and government bodies. John Jo is experienced in the management of multi-disciplinary and multi-location design and construction teams and is adept at resolving issues caused by differences in cultures and business practices.
Andrew is a director of Mace's international business and is responsible for the management of the company’s operations in the Middle East and North Africa.
He has over 30 years experience in the construction industry with expertise in the commercial, residential, aviation and retail sectors in Europe, Asia and the Middle East. He has spent the last 13 years working with Mace, predominantly in the UAE and Bahrain, where he has provided the leadership of major regional projects including Dubai Marina Phase 1, Mall of the Emirates , Bahrain Bay, Capital Gate and Al Bahr Towers and acted as the country manager for Bahrain and Abu Dhabi.
Prior to joining Mace he worked for the contractor’s management team that delivered Kuala Lumpur International Airport from start to finish and spent 8 years with Bovis in a commercial role on UK projects such as Heathrow Terminal 1, the Ludgate Development and Glyndebourne Opera House.
Brian McNeese is Mace's managing director of project management services in North America, responsible for developing the company’s programme and project management offer in the region. Brian's appointment represents the latest step in Mace’s expanding service offer to corporate occupiers, private organisations and public institutions in the United States, Canada and the Caribbean.
Brian joins Mace from Studley, where he was managing director of strategy and operations for their growing integrated corporate solutions practice. Previously, Brian worked for CB Richard Ellis as a director of global client strategy and was responsible for developing client solutions for large-scale capital programs, integrated outsourcing initiatives, and real estate portfolio optimization. He began his career with Ernst & Young in their corporate real estate consulting practice and was engaged in a variety of assignments which included construction pre-litigation analysis; construction cost classification; project management oversight; competitive business assessment; business interruption claim analysis; and construction schedule and contract analysis.
Brian holds a Bachelor of Science degree in construction management and a certificate in land development from the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech).
Chris is the finance director for Mace’s international business, appointed to the International Board on joining the company in February 2011. A qualified chartered accountant with Ernst & Young, Chris has held a variety of senior financial and operational positions with major multi-national companies such as Intel Corporation (a $30bn turnover business and the world’s leading provider of semi-conductor products) and AIG Investments (the Investment and Asset Management arm of the world’s largest insurer).
Having spent the last ten years outside of the UK, Chris has developed a comprehensive understanding of the challenges and opportunities facing international organisations. Chris joined Mace from AIG in Dubai where he was initially finance director and then managing director responsible for AIG’s MENA Real Estate and Asset Management portfolio. Whilst there, Chris delivered AIG’s first Sharia-compliant real estate deal worth $157m and at the same time constructed and executed the first major asset restructuring in the region with a syndicate of five local lenders.
Mark is Mace's International Business Development Director. He has been involved with the construction and property industry for over 30 years. Mark has extensive experience working overseas living in Germany, Poland, Ireland and Italy. Mark has opened up a number of new markets for Mace and has worked with new clients in Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and Russia.
He also has a number of years experience managing a property business specialising in the development of factory outlet retail centres across Europe. Mark now travels extensively for Mace, spending time in all of the company's countries of operation.
Ian is a founding director of Mace and currently holds the position of deputy chairman.
He works predominantly in the international sector and has responsibility for the group’s joint venture operations in the Far East. He also supports our work with the Shangri-La Group in the Maldives and on various projects in Eastern Europe.
As a result of Ian’s extensive experience he has been engaged on a number of high profile expert witness assignments.
Operations Board
Nic has been with Mace in the Middle East and North Africa region for the past 10 years. He is currently the operational director responsible for Dubai, the Northern Emirates and Oman. These responsibilities include all business operations and project delivery matters.
Nic has 20 years experience in the construction industry working for main contractors and management consultants. He has worked extensively in the UK, the Middle East and in the Caribbean.
In the Middle East region, Nic has assisted the growth of the business both in terms of projects, number of employees and geographical locations.
As project director Nic has been responsible for numerous residential, hotel and mixed use developments providing a comprehensive project management service through out all the project phases. These include iconic projects such as Dubai Financial Market, Al Barari, and Business Bay Executive Towers.
Over 30 years experience in construction, property and service based industries in the UK and overseas. The last 15 years have been spent in a leading management role in the FM industry. In particular developing and growing a facilities/infrastructure management and consultancy company (CBX), which was formed by a management buyout from Xerox in 1994 and was subsequently sold to the Sulzer Corporation in December 1998. CBX grew from 30 to 300 employees and turnover from £10m to £70m during this period.
In 2001 Bill joined Bovis Lend Lease to assist them in developing a strategy to grow their FM business. Then in late 2002 Bill formed Macro with 3 other colleagues and the support of Mace. Rapid success has been achieved in developing a business that not only turns over more than £40m by end of 2007 but is also highly regarded within the FM sector.
In April 2008 Bill moved to the Middle East to set up Macro internationally. In late 2008 Bill was recognised as one of the UK's leading pioneers of the Facilities Management industry by FM world, and by 2011 the company had won FM World's Facilities Management Company of the Year 4 years in a row.
Mark has over 30 years experience in the construction industry, a beneficially varied record of executing contracts in both the public and private sectors and working closely with both clients and contractors. Mark is highly conversant with all types of contract and able to take projects from concept/client negotiations through to successful and timely completion.
Mark joined Mace, Dubai in March 2005 for the delivery of the 5-star, 440 all-suite, Kempinski Hotel project for the Majid Al Futtaim Group, which he saw to completion. From January 2007 to March 2010 Mark held the position of project director on the 3 million sqft Mirdif City Centre Shopping Mall Project, in Dubai, also for the MAF Group, taking the project from Master plan stage to opening to the public in March 2010.
In recognition of the above Mark has since been promoted to operations director, and is currently based on the MAF Group BCC Hotels project in the Kingdom of Bahrain. He is also developing business in the Middle East and China and supporting best practices in Mace’s retail construction globally.
Mark has worked in many sectors including retail, hotel, civic, commercial office, healthcare, law courts, petrochemical and civil and in a variety of locations including the UK, Turkey, Angola, Gabon, UAE and Bahrain.
Mark is currently a committed and active member of the CIOB, and participates on its professional interview panel. In 1997 Mark was runner-up for CIOB Construction Manager of the Year and in 2003 he won the Gold Medal for CIOB Construction Manager of the Year UK.
Branislav has had a dynamic 25-year career with leading international civil construction companies throughout South East Asia, Australia, Middle East and Europe. He was involved in the construction of large and prestigious building and infrastructure projects. Branislav joined Mace in 2004 as a senior project manager. He is coming from Dubai where he spent six years working on large, prestigious projects. Branislav Simovic is Regional Director for South East Europe Region and currently he is Project Director for the following projects: Porto Montenegro, IT Park Indjija, Liman Park Project, Osijek Porta Nova Shopping Mall, Atlas Capital Center and Univerzijada 2009 – Block 67, FIAT factory in Kragujevac.
Branislav has thorough knowledge of construction and site development activities – from design to implementation and evaluation. Knowledge of construction project plan requirements, cost estimating, specification writing, building/site codes and standards and inspection techniques, knowledge of financial procedures to maintain project cost control.
Branislav has strong team leadership, reporting, project management, communication skills, organizational and people skills, planning, contractual skills, business acumen, reporting, estimating, budget establishment and control, quality assurance, control and safety management set up and implementation. He has ability to meet tight construction schedules and operate within strict financial parameters. Exacting, disciplined, process driven and result orientated. Ability to design and implement work processes to achieve functional objectives.
Branislav has expertise in preparation of project quality assurance programs, preparation and implementation of policies, procedures, and practices for design and construction quality management. He also has the ability to create, monitor and improve processes and procedures on a continuous basis in order to deliver clients satisfaction and profitability, which meet company objectives.
David's current role as country manager of Vietnam has seen him establish and grow a new business for Mace in the Asia region. David has successfully established and is now managing a local business for Mace in this challenging new market. The business in Vietnam has quickly grown through hard work and determination with the support of Mace to currently include a staff of more than 50 spread across 10 projects valued at more than US$ 2 billion. As these projects progress into the construction phase he will oversee a growing team of more than 100 staff, making Vietnam the largest Mace business in the region. A background in building and civil engineering, both in contracting and consultancy has also given David an excellent grounding in civil, structural and finishing works.
Over twenty years of practical experience has allowed him to obtain a diverse range of skills in his varied management and supervision roles which support his current role. Construction projects in civil works and highway construction through to high rise and stadium construction in Australia, Asia and the UK has allowed David to gain a sensitivity to different cultures and gain expose to a wide variety of management and construction challenges which have helped to make David a well rounded operational director. Experience in all areas of the construction process including business development, strategic planning, design, client liaison, contract administration, procurement, construction and commissioning, from the development management stage through to project completion give David a unique versatility and capability for the most demanding roles.
Barbara has worked within many sectors, delivering projects for clients in retail, residential, public-private-partnership / private finance initiative, commercial, education, rail, regeneration and leisure.
She has also advised clients on performance management and best practice. An intensive course at INSEAD Business School in France helped to hone her business skills, which proved invaluable when she was called upon to establish new businesses for Mace's operations in Asia. Her business skills complement her technical and managerial skills.
During her professional career, Barbara has lived in the UK, Hong Kong and Russia. She has worked with clients and on projects across a broad range of countries, from Macau to the Maldives and Singapore to Serbia.
Barbara is currently based in London, England.
