Trusted Advisor: The Next Chapter

After 10 years of working at Knight Frank I have left. It follows the closure of Private Office in Australia. I will continue in a property advisory role in my own business with existing clients whilst working with the same Knight Frank colleagues who currently provide support to me. This will enable me to continue to service and deliver quality outcomes for clients who are common to Knight Frank and me. This is the best outcome for everyone.

My time at Knight Frank has been both enjoyable and rewarding. I arrived in 2011 and merged my business, m2 Office Leasing with the Knight Frank North Sydney office. It wasn’t easy but after 2 years I’d rebuilt the culture and established a first class senior executive team to run the business.

It comprised Linda Rudd, Giuseppe Ruberto, Brett Burridge, Bianca Yau, Tony Monardo & Lachlan Graham. I then moved into the city to continue to operate in the office leasing market. I soon realised that my future was not just finding revenue for investment properties but in solving client’s varied property problems as well as identifying new opportunities. I then set up a new business cell called, Client Solutions. This concept was about winning business across all property services and distributing it to the best practitioners in the company, whilst seamlessly managing the work for my clients. It was backed by the then CEO, Stephen Ellis.

With the arrival of CEO, Rod Leaver came the creation of Private Office Australia which was a natural expansion from the UK’s successful private office model, led by legendary, Lord Andy Hay.

Now led by Rory Penn and Thomas Van Straubenzee My day to day contact has been with Rory who has been an enthusiastic supporter and wise counsel. It has been amazing to grow a “start-up" modelled on a London business which has exceptional goals and is highly prized. 

For the past 2.5 years I have worked alongside Sarah Harding to build the business and our presence in Australia. The challenge has been filled with achievement and enormous pride and we have shared the workload. Private Office is so far the summit of my career and exactly what I’ve always wanted to do. I will continue the role of #TrustedAdvisor for a select group of clients, because it has created the strongest client relationships I have.

Knight Frank has provided me with a platform to investigate the world, spend each year in the United States and work with amazing people at Newmark and Douglas Elliman, who specialize in real estate geographically and functionally. I now have colleagues and friends in the dominant business generating markets in the UK, Asia Pacific, USA and Australia so connecting and working with trusted colleagues is now a feature of my service.

What Knight Frank brought to Private Office is a sophistication and commitment to Ultra High Net Wealth Individuals (UHNWI) which translated into a much greater understanding of clients and enabled us to provide superior service. The publication "The Wealth Report" is the pinnacle of research reports on the movement of private capital into real estate, globally. Many of my clients contributed to the contents through the annual Attitudes survey. It has been a real pleasure working with the Wealth Report research team, especially editor, Andrew Shirley and deputy editor, Flora Harley. 

I believe in the #PrivateOffice model. It is Private clients, Family offices and Not for Profit organisations where the trusted advisor role is both desired and rewarding. 

In terms of my own network, it is strong and that’s because the relationships are real. I will be collaborating with property experts on specific projects, which is exciting. I will not have any branding issues or territories which I cannot do business in, so the opportunities are limitless and unconstrained.

It’s another chapter in my 42-year property career and a sliding door moment for opportunity. I am looking forward to creating something new which adapts to the changing environment and provides superior service to my clients.

I already have lots of business on and new opportunities ahead of me and this allows me to continue my very satisfying journey in the industry I love being part of, property. I look forward to linking in with you and to writing about the trends I see which affect what we do in property each day. And, of course, if you need my help, you know where to find me.

kymbal.dunne@gmail.com