Partner and one of the presidents of the European Real Estate Equity department of the Ares Real Estate Group fund. In addition, he is a member of the Ares Management Board of Governors and the Global Committee and Operations Committee of Ares Real Estate Groups. Prior to joining ARES in 2013, John Ruane was a Partner at AREA Property Partners. Previously, he worked in the investment banking division of Morgan Stanley, where he dealt with mergers and acquisitions. John Ruane graduated with honours from the Department of Commerce at University College Dublin, where he earned a bachelor's degree. He also graduated from the finance and accounting department of the London School of Economics.

Managing Director at Ares Real Estate Group, where he focuses on the European real estate fund. Before joining Ares in 2014, he was an analyst at J.P. Morgan CazeNove, where he was responsible for financial analysis and consulting for a wide range of clients in the real estate market as a corporate broker. He graduated with honours from the University College London in the field of economics. He was placed on the college's list of top students and won the AJL Cahill Memorial Prize in Economics.

Maciej Dyjas is a Managing Partner of Griffin Capital Partners, the largest privately owned investment and asset manager in private equity and real estate in CEE and the most active and innovative investor in the region.

His management experience was gained in the consulting company Wandel & Goltermann and in Hewlett Packard Systems in the EU and US, before he went on to be Partner, Managing Partner and CEO at Eastbridge Group, an evergreen investment group. In tandem with his functions at Eastbridge, he held several positions at companies controlled by the Group, including positions of CEO of NFI EMF, listed on the WSE, and CEO of DTH Capital in New York. In 2014, Eastbridge Group, held assets of over USD 3 billion in the retail, consumer goods, and real estate sectors in CEE, the EU and US.

Maciej holds a Master’s Degree in Mathematics and IT from the University of Warsaw and  pursued studies in the area of business and psychology of management and communication in Stuttgart and Frankfurt.

Piotr Fijołek is a top Merger & Acquisition expert who has excelled in managing and executing opportunistic and value-added projects. With over 14 years of operational experience exclusively dedicated to real estate and private equity, Piotr has, from the beginning of his professional career, been associated with Griffin.

His impressive track record contains more than 100 successful transactions, with a total volume exceeding EUR 3.5 billion. For more than a decade, he has orchestrated a number of flagship projects, including the recent acquisition of a majority stake in Murapol, a leading Polish property development company, which he is currently overseeing as Deputy Chairman of the Supervisory Board.

Piotr carried out the take-over transaction of the so called M1 portfolio, comprised of 28 retail properties in which Griffin acted as deal manager and co-investor. The deal value amounted to ca. EUR 1 billion and it was the third largest transaction on the property market in 2018 globally.

In addition to this, in his capacity as Senior Partner, Piotr’s key role is also asset management. Currently, he is heading several investment platforms, among them Murapol Group and Chariot Top Group B.V., projects with a GAV of ca. EUR 500+ million.

Piotr completed management studies at the Warsaw School of Economics and spatial economy at the Warsaw University of Life Sciences, as well as an Executive MBA programme from the Kozminski University.

Managing Partner at Griffin Capital Partners. For nine years, he held key positions as Senior Vice President and Supervisory Board member of Oaktree's real estate funds in Germany and Poland, responsible for multi-billion euro operations. Prior to joining Oaktree, he spent eight years in real estate and corporate advisory at Ernst & Young Real Estate (formerly Arthur Andersen), where he held various management positions. He graduated from universities in Berlin (TU Berlin, EBS), Paris (ESCP Europe) and London (LSE). He also completed an MBA and civil engineering studies. He also holds a postgraduate degree in property management (EBS). He belongs to the Royal Institute of Accredited Appraisers (MRICS).

Vice President of the Ares Real Estate Group, where he is responsible for the European real estate fund. Before joining Ares in 2018, he was a partner in the investment team at Tristan Capital Partners, where he was responsible for the implementation of European real estate acquisitions. He holds a bachelor's degree from the University of Economics in Vienna (Wirtschaftsuniversitat) in the field of International Business Administration. He also obtained a master's degree with honours from Cass Business School in the field of Enterprise Finance.

Legal advisor and tax advisor, graduate of the Faculty of Law and Administration at the University of A. Mickiewicz in Poznań. She has been practicing as a legal advisor since 2006, and as a tax advisor since 2005. Partner at MDDP Michalik Dłuska Dziedzic i Partnerzy, with whom she has been associated since 2004. Previously, she worked at Ernst & Young Sp. z o.o. in Warsaw and in several law firms. She has many years of experience in the field of tax law in the real estate sector. She works on real estate investment projects at all stages of implementation - from making an investment decision, through ongoing consultancy related to the specifics of the development industry, to the conclusion of an investment. Co-author of the book "Taxation of Real Estate in Business Activity. Property Tax. Revenue Tax on Buildings’ and ‘Real Estate – Sale, Rent, Lease. Effects in PIT, CIT and VAT ”.

Experienced manager with over twenty eight years experience in professional services. Brendan’s key clients were Polish and International Private Equity firm who were transacting in Poland and CEE.  From 2007 to 2017 Brendan was Managing Partner, Transaction Advisory Services, EY, Poland.  He grew this business into a market leading position, mentoring and developing a Transaction Advisory Team, with 110 FTE's.  Brendan was also a Member of the EY Poland Executive Team and Market Board a team consisting of the Managing Partners of each business line with the Country Managing Partner and COO, managing the EY Polish practice. Brendan also held regional and EMEIA roles in Transaction Support. Brendan is a Fellow of the Chartered Association of Certified Accountants.