Marc Vlessing
Marc is co-founder and CEO of Pocket, London’s only specialist developer that concentrates solely on affordable housing for the squeezed middle. Pocket builds award winning affordable housing in London which requires no grant, remains affordable by being income targeted and sells its homes outright to people on low to moderate incomes – see: www.pocketliving.com. With a pipeline of over 200 homes per annum, the company has delivered and successfully sold schemes in Camden, Ealing, Hounslow, Westminster and Hammersmith & Fulham and has received critical support from local, regional and national government. Pocket also has managed JV’s with a number of large corporate partners including Land Securities, Wates Development and Linden Homes.
Marc Vlessing has had a broad career working in the City as well as the property and media sectors as a CEO, Chairman, non-executive director and consultant. He started his career as a corporate financier with County NatWest in the 1980’s. In 1991, he set up Media Finance, a management consultancy business. In 1997, Marc became Chief Executive of Crescent Entertainment – the West End’s largest group of theatres and cinemas and in 2000 he became Chief Executive of First Call International.
Marc also has extensive venture capital experience, both as an entrepreneur and as an investor. He is Chairman of ProVen Growth & Income VCT Plc, one of the UK’s most successful venture capital trusts for small to medium sized growth companies. In between jobs, Marc has produced a number of award winning feature films. He maintains his sanity by playing the saxophone (jazz).
Marc’s key subjects: With prices spiralling out of control and the UK building too little, how do we provide housing for today’s school goers when they need it? How do you influence politicians to achieve lasting regulatory change to create new markets?; How do you manage people across a wide range of administrative, operational and creative functions?; How do you go about repositioning your career?; How do you make sure you leave something useful behind in the jobs you do?