Our People
Meet the team at Cavendish Maxwell
Meet the team at Cavendish Maxwell
Stay up to date
This website uses cookies to improve your experience
Accept allCookie preferencesxHimanshu Joshi
Partner, Head of Machinery and Business Assets
Himanshu is a chartered surveyor and RICS registered valuer, with over 20 years’ experience in plant and machinery valuation. His experience spans a diverse mix of industries in over 30 countries and he has worked with some of the largest FTSE-100 clients during his time with PwC in London.
Himanshu has played a significant role in developing plant and machinery valuation advisory practices in India and the UK, ensuring best practices and international valuation standards are achieved.
Himanshu is a mechanical engineering graduate with an RICS-accredited master’s degree in plant and machinery valuation and he has a business management qualification from the Indian Institute of Management (IIM-C).
Chris Taylor
CEO
Chris joined us from Abu Dhabi Finance where he was the CEO for over ten years. He is a senior financial services and real estate executive with 25 years of experience in retail, corporate, and SME banking, including 14 years in the UAE financial services sector.
Chris has held management responsibility for sales, business development, marketing, finance, client care, operations, risk, legal, audit, HR, IT, change management, and governance. He is an advisor and partner to several FinTech and PropTech companies in the region and is a regular attendee at board and audit committee meetings.
Chris is a Chartered Accountant with experience working for blue chip multinational banks, local (UAE) and international banking sector, possessing diverse industry experience across the manufacturing, tourism and leisure, insurance, and financial services sector. Chris has led major projects including Oracle Financials implementations, acquiring and merging companies, financial due diligence, Basel II, Core Banking system implementation, FSA Treating Customers Fairly, Treasury Systems, and company re-branding. Chris is Vice President for INSEAD National Alumni Association for the UAE.
Zak Harper
AssocRICS
Property Manager
Zak joined Cavendish Maxwell in February 2021 as a property manager to lead the launch of the new property management service in the Oman market.
With seven years’ experience in the Middle East real estate industry, he has built an impressive property management portfolio and has been responsible for managing over 330,000 sq m of real estate across commercial and residential asset classes. During his career in real estate, he has managed a diverse range of properties for high net-worth individuals, private clients, pension funds and government entities.
Zak has a wealth of knowledge and experience using both custom-built and off-the-shelf property management systems to maximise the return on any property. In his previous role, he was responsible for the rollout of the property management platform to local and international teams within the business as well as clients and external partners.
Prior to joining Cavendish Maxwell, Zak worked as a senior property manager at Savills Middle East. He became an Associate Member of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors in 2017 and graduated from the University College of Estate Management, United Kingdom in 2019.
Zak has a proven track record of successfully managing client relationships and is dedicated to providing exceptional property management services to Cavendish Maxwell clients across Oman.
Khalil Alzadjali
Head of Oman
Khalil Al Zadjali has served as the Head of Cavendish Maxwell in Oman since 2017. He has a BTEC Higher National Diploma (HND) in business and finance from the UK and brings over 14 years of experience in valuations across the Sultanate in commercial, residential and investment properties. Khalil’s expertise has helped cement relationships with government agencies and high-profile clients in Oman and the wider GCC.
Prior to his role at Cavendish Maxwell, he led the Valuations team at Hamptons International, using his in-depth industry knowledge to accurately value various real estate assets. Khalil retained a substantial number of clients in the move to Cavendish Maxwell, and his strong, long-lasting relationships with all major banks in Oman have been invaluable to the growth of the company’s presence in the Sultanate.
Yousir Habib
MSc
Surveyor and Head of Business Development ‑ Northern Emirates
Yousir joined Cavendish Maxwell in 2014 and has worked within the residential and commercial valuation departments, gaining valuable experience from both businesses. He has been exposed to a range of asset classes including industrial warehouses, labour camps, development land plots, and residential and commercial towers.
Through the years, Yousir has gathered meaningful experience to execute property valuation requirements for purposes from master plan developments to single and multi-tenanted investment portfolios of all property types, complexities, size and value. Yousir has also been the lead valuer in a number of large mixed-use property portfolios across Dubai and the northern emirates.
As Surveyor and Head of Business Development - Sharjah and Northern Emirates, he continues to draw on his knowledge from across the asset types and departments to provide holistic valuations in old Dubai and the northern emirates in accordance with the RICS Red Book and International Valuation Standard Council (IVSC) standards.
A Syrian national, Yousir was born and raised in the UAE and is an Arabic speaker which has helped him develop strong working relationships with local clients and partners. He graduated from Ajman University with a BSc in Marketing and received a master’s degree in Real Estate Investment and Finance from Heriot Watt University in 2018.
Jay Grant
MSc, IRRV (Hons), MRICS
Founder and Chairman
Jay is from the UK and moved to Dubai in May 2008 before setting up Cavendish Maxwell with a business partner 5 months later. Following on from this in 2014, Jay set up the real estate intelligence platform, Property Monitor.
Jay holds a BA honours degree in economics and accountancy and a master’s degree in estate management. He spent 6 years in the City of London with Sanwa International and JP Morgan before embarking on a career in property and subsequently qualifying as a chartered surveyor in 2006.
Jay’s real estate experience covers valuation, landlord and tenant, property management, commercial agency, fund management and investment. Jay is a creative business thinker and the driving force behind Cavendish Maxwell’s emergence from a niche valuation company into a larger multidiscipline surveying practice. The flame of ambition still burns very bright he says, as the next few years will demonstrate.
Away from work Jay is an Arsenal season ticket holder, Ironman triathlete, white collar boxer and keen cyclist who cycled half the Tour de France route in July 2017 averaging 200km a day.
Julian Roche
MA (Oxon), MPhil, PhD
Chief Economist
Julian joined Cavendish Maxwell as Chief Economist in January 2019. Coming from an old real estate family in Ireland, his career as an economist began with a first-class honours degree in philosophy, politics and economics at the age of 19, following which Julian was an analyst with the UK Government. He later helped develop and launch the UK’s residential forecasting service with the firms that merged to become Global Insight. Julian subsequently developed derivatives in the City of London and established real estate futures contracts for what is now the International Commodity Exchange. He also ran a property development and management firm, before eventually serving as an international consultant and trainer to governments, central banks and notable firms including AXA, Citibank, DBS, Deloitte and Thomson Reuters.
Julian fills his work-free time with academic pursuits; he holds several postgraduate degrees, including a PhD in International Risk Management Policy, and also the Licensed Conveyancer qualification. Julian has published many business and academic texts and articles, and is also a keen walker – especially fond of the Scottish Highlands.
Jessica Taylor
HR Director
Jessica Taylor joined Cavendish Maxwell in 2016. As HR Director, Jessica is responsible for the development and execution of all HR strategies, policies, services and programmes. She brings to the HR team over 10 years of extensive people-management skills and hands-on experience leading HR initiatives.
Jessica's expertise is founded on understanding and translating business objectives into meaningful strategies and polices that engage and motivate employees and create a positive work environment. Placing immense importance on employee engagement, Jessica believes in the principle that people tend to support what they help to create.
Prior to her role at Cavendish Maxwell, Jessica held various positions within private and public sector companies in the UK. Her meticulous approach, passion to understand what motivates people, and her support in helping them achieve their full potential has inspired positive change in the organisations where she has worked.
Her key areas of expertise includes policy design, employee engagement, compensation, performance management, recruiting, compliance reporting, HR workflow development, training and development, and benefits administration.
Paul Barker
BSc (Hons), MRICS
Partner, Head of Commercial Valuation
Paul has 20 years of experience in valuation and consultancy services and has worked in leading international practices across the UAE, Oman, Europe and the UK.
His professional knowledge encompasses all property asset classes including large, complex master plan developments of mixed-use properties in office, retail, industrial, leisure, hospitality and residential sectors. Paul is professionally qualified to value minerals, waste and recycling properties as well as environmental land considerations.
Paul’s client portfolio includes international and local banks, lending institutions, developers, investors, owner occupiers as well as accountants, legal firms and insolvency practitioners. As joint head of the Commercial Valuation department he is responsible for valuations of all property types. He ensures quality assurance and provides timely RICS Red Book/International Valuation Standard Council (IVSC) standard reports.
James Cresswell
BA (Hons), MSc MRICS
Partner, Head of Commercial Valuation
James joined Cavendish Maxwell in March 2014. He has more than 16 years of experience in valuing a diverse range of properties including residential apartments and villas, commercial properties, trading properties, and development sites including large mixed-use developments in both, the UK and Middle East.
James has gained a wealth of valuation experience having led related activities on a diverse range of regional and international properties. He specialises in advising lending institutions and conducting valuations for property funds, corporate entities and for IPO purposes. His client portfolio includes international and local banks, lending institutions, developers, investors, owner occupiers as well as accountants, legal firms and insolvency practitioners.
James is joint head of the Commercial Valuation department and is responsible for valuations of all property types. He also champions quality assurance and project excellence to provide high-quality and timely reports in accordance with RICS Red Book/International Valuation Standard Council (IVSC) standards.
Sofia Underabi
MRICS, AAPI
Partner, Head of Residential Valuation
Sofia is a qualified surveyor with over 12 years’ international experience in the UK, Middle East and Australia. Sofia was previously with CBRE, Stockland Property Group as well as Legal and General, in Sydney and London, where she focused on property valuation, advisory and investment management.
Sofia is responsible for banks as well as private and institutional clients, overseeing valuations throughout the UAE and the wider region. Some of her current clients include Aldar, Meraas, Dubai Properties, Emirates NBD, Mashreq Bank, Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank, Dubai Islamic Bank, SAMBA, HSBC and Standard Chartered, among others.
Daniel Harrison
BSc (Hons), MRICS
Associate Partner, Specialist Valuation
Daniel Harrison has been with Cavendish Maxwell since September 2010, gaining nine years of experience in the Commercial Valuation team. He is an expert RERA-registered valuer and an accomplished chartered surveyor in the MENA region, offering expertise to varied clients on all aspects of valuations across specialty asset classes.
His team is responsible for all valuations relating to assets positioned in specialist sectors, including hotels, hospitality and leisure, education, medical facilities, exhibition halls, district cooling plants, retail, restaurants and nightclubs.
Daniel has overseen and provided considered advice on over 200 operational hotels in the UAE, offering focussed competitor profiling and operational performance analysis to clients. His core disciplines incorporate extensive yield profiling and value analysis with detailed financial modelling and accurate forecasting, helping unlock an asset’s true market value.
Daniel is a RICS-accredited valuer and alongside providing expert valuations services is responsible for ensuring the creation and delivery of the highest quality reports in accordance with RICS Red Book and International Valuation Standard Council (IVSC) standards.
Sarah-Jane Carter
BA (Hons) DipM
Head of Marketing
Sarah-Jane joined Cavendish Maxwell in January 2020 as Head of Marketing and is responsible for the development of the marketing strategy and execution across the Middle East region. An energetic and results driven marketer, Sarah-Jane possesses a wealth of multi-channel marketing experience, within both B2B and B2C environments which she has gained over a 25 year career. Prior to joining Cavendish Maxwell, Sarah-Jane held senior marketing positions for major developers in Dubai including Emaar, Dubai Properties and Dubai Sports City. She also worked for IWG as the Regional Marketing Director responsible for the MEA and APAC regions. Before relocating to the UAE in 2005, Sarah-Jane held various management roles in public and private sector companies in the UK including ten years at Royal Mail and seven years at the Bank of America.
Sarah-Jane is a member of the Chartered Institute of Marketing and has a BA(Hons) Degree in Business and Marketing
P P Varghese
Partner, Strategy and Consulting
P P Varghese leads Cavendish Maxwell’s strategy and consulting team. Varghese comes with over 17 years’ experience gained through advising government, private and institutional clients on single-use, mixed-use, standalone, and master planned projects. He has been exposed to consulting and operations functions with his expertise spanning development planning and strategy, cost-benefit analysis, operational reviews and monitoring, hotel operator search and negotiations, as well as arbitration support and dispute resolution for hotel management agreements.
In his previous role, Varghese served as Partner - Real Estate Strategy and Consulting at Knight Frank Middle East. There he was responsible for advising clients on real estate development strategy, optimising department processes to enhance revenue, and developing client acquisition and retention strategies.
At Cavendish Maxwell, Varghese will lead an expert team that provides development advisory, feasibility, portfolio analysis and real estate research for all real estate asset classes and will identify new growth opportunities for the business.
Varghese is a Master of Management in Hospitality, majoring in real estate investments and finance from the Cornell School of Hotel Administration, Cornell University, New York.