Simon Abboud

Biography: Simon is currently the Program Director of the European Management Services & Operations (EMSO) team, focused on Change Management in Hines Europe. He also Co-Chairs the ULI UK Innovation Council and is a coordinator of the ULI Europe Real Estate & Technology Council. Previously, Simon worked as an Architect in leading design firms in the Middle East and Belgium before moving to the Construction Management side. Before joining Hines, Simon was heading the Real Estate & Construction Technology vertical at a Silicon Valley-based Venture Capital, Plug and Play Tech Center. In parallel, Simon is an impact-driven individual actively seeking to improve how we think, build and manage our cities. Accordingly, he is involved in several built-environment initiatives outside his time with Hines. Before being the Vice-Chair of the ULI UK Innovation Council and Advisory Member of the ULI Europe Technology and Real Estate Council, Simon sat on the Board of the CoreNet Global Young Leaders as well as on the Board of CoreNet France; Simon was the recipient of the CoreNet France “Young Leader of the Year Award” and was nominated as top-3 Global Young Leaders of 2021. He still is an actively engaged with the European NextGen Talent Taskforce organized by the London Property Alliance (CPA & WPA). Simon is a LEED BD+C, Smartscore Offices, WELL Accredited Professional, and has been directly involved in humanitarian initiatives to support Lebanon, Cuba, Haiti, North Korea and most recently Ukraine. Finally, Simon holds a Bachelor of Architecture & Design from the Lebanese American University and an MSc in Real Estate Development from IE Business School, where he was the winner of the “Young and Ambitious Mind - 2020” award among the 66,000 university alumni.