The Urban Land Institute (ULI) has boosted its research and thought leadership capabilities across Asia Pacific with the appointment of Mark Cooper as Senior Director, Thought Leadership of ULI Asia Pacific.  

Mark has more than 25 years’ of experience as a real estate journalist, with 15 years covering the Asia Pacific region. He was formerly editor of industry magazines: AsiaProperty, EuroProperty and IPE Real Estate. Prior to joining ULI in Hong Kong, he was a freelance writer, researcher and consultant. 

Mark will produce research and thought leadership content in a variety of formats, focusing on ULI's core themes and global mission priorities around; sustainability and decarbonisation, housingattainability, capital markets and technology and innovation. 

On sustainability and decarbonisation, Mark will work with Jenny Zhang, Director of Sustainability, ULI Asia Pacific, who leads programmes around decarbonisation across the Asia Pacific region, notably the recent Low Carbon Emissions Steel Initiative in China’s real estate sector. Jenny will be supported by Vidyashree Unnikrishnan, who also joined ULI in January as Senior Researcher and is based in Bangalore. Vidyashree has a Master’s degree in Environmental Building Design from the University of Pennsylvania and was formerly ESG Manager for Grosvenor for two years.

May Chow, Chief Development Officer of ULI Asia Pacific, adds, “ULI is a member-centric organisation and we are passionate about collaborating as a powerful collective to deliver industry impact as well as a significant membership value proposition.  Our Thought Leadership team will build on our convening platform of regional events, including workshops and conferences, by highlighting key insights drawn from the expertise in the room and developing these in greater depth for wider distribution.” 

Alan Beebe, Chief Executive of ULI Asia Pacific, said: “Our members comprise professionals from across the real estate value chain and they are a hugely valuable source of industry expertise. Expanding our thought leadership capabilities in-house, allows us to channel much of this extensive knowledge, and firmly position ULI as an industry thought leader across Capital Markets, Housing Attainability and the Decarbonisation of the Built Environment. Mark is already a well establishedindustry ‘thought leader’ and we are delighted to have him onboard to spearhead this regional initiative. Additionally, I would like to personally thank our philanthropic donors and corporate sponsors who have helped us to realise our vision, and we look to continue partnering with industry organisations to further support our mission priorities in Asia Pacific.”

Mark Cooper said: “I am delighted to join ULI and look forward to building on the success of market-leading reports such as Emerging Trends in Real Estate Asia Pacific and the Home Attainability Index. We plan to develop a broad range of thoughtful and useful content which will help members and the wider industry navigate an increasingly complex real estate landscape.”