Our leadership

Paul Pindar

Non-Executive Chairman

Paul was an early investor in Purplebricks and became the Group’s Non-Executive Chairman in December 2015.

Career

Paul was the third longest serving FTSE 100 CEO when he stood down from Capita plc in 2014. When he joined as Finance Director in 1987, after advising on the £0.3m management buyout (MBO) of the business while working for 3i Group plc, Capita had 33 employees and an annual revenue of £1.3m. Paul became Managing Director in 1991 and Chief Executive in 1999. When he left the business in February 2014, Capita had more than 62,000 employees and a market capitalisation of £7.5bn.

Board skills and experience

Paul has a significant breadth and depth of experience from his career at Capita.

Other appointments

• Non-Executive Chairman of Literacy Capital plc
• Chairman of Bookmark Reading Charity’s Corporate Partnership Board

Helena Marston

Chief Executive Officer

Helena was appointed Group Chief Executive Officer in April 2022. Helena joined Purplebricks in May 2020 as Chief People Officer and was promoted to Chief Operating Officer at the end of 2021.

Career

Helena has held several senior leadership roles at Virgin Media, Kuwait Energy, Jaguar Land Rover and Vodafone. She drove significant performance improvements in leadership and organisational culture for these world-leading multinational companies. Since joining the Company, Helena has taken over responsibility for all aspects of Purplebricks’ people and operational strategy, ensuring the Group has the optimum structure to deliver a high performance culture, having designed and led the complex project to move all field agents to fully employed in 2021.

Board skills and experience

Helena has a wealth of experience in global leadership roles in a number of highly competitive, complex businesses.

Other appointments

• Non-Executive Director of Homeday GmbH

Steve Long

Chief Financial Officer

Steve was appointed Chief Financial Officer in February 2022. 

Career

Steve is a Chartered Accountant with over 10 years’ experience in strategic planning, execution and effective delivery of all aspects of the financial management of a business.

Steve held a number of positions at esure Group, where he took a leading role in the development of the finance function and broader commercial and strategic direction of the business, including the Group’s IPO and other corporate actions, as well as the sale to private equity in 2018. Immediately prior to joining Purplebricks Steve was Finance Director, Strategy and Transformation, where he was responsible for the development, financial management and execution of the Group’s strategic plans and transformation programme.

Steve holds a BA (Hons) in Politics, Philosophy and Economics and is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales.

Board skills and experience

Steve has held a number of senior financial positions and was interim Chief Financial Officer at esure from January 2018 to March 2020. He previously spent a number of years at KPMG where he worked with a variety of clients within the financial services audit and advisory function.

Other appointments

• None

Simon Downing

Senior Independent Director

Simon joined the Board in April 2018.

Career

Simon is a graduate engineer and has over 30 years of experience in building and investing in technology businesses; he is a past winner of the UK EY Technology Entrepreneur of the Year award.

Board skills and experience

Simon was the founder of Civica Group, one of the UK’s largest privately owned software companies. He led the business from inception to IPO in 2004 and then three subsequent private equity-backed buyouts, the most recent sale, in 2017, valuing the business at over £1bn.

Other appointments

• Chairman of Civica Group and Audiotonix Group

• Non-Executive Director of Literacy Capital plc

• Senior Advisor to Ardian

Adrian Gill

Non-Executive Director

Adrian joined the Board in October 2022.

Committees

None

Career

Adrian is a Chartered Accountant with 20 years’ experience as a property executive. Adrian joined Connells in 2002 as Group Finance Director before becoming Group Commercial Director in 2007. During his 10 years with Connells, Adrian helped transform it into a broad property services business, growing profits from £10m to over £100m at its peak.

Adrian joined LSL plc in 2012 and later became Executive Director, Estate Agency at LSL Property Services PLC, which included Your Move, Reeds Rains and Marsh & Parsons. Following this, he was Group CEO of Leaders Romans, responsible for 140 sales and lettings branches. Since 2019 Adrian has been a non-executive director at a number of Proptech companies.

Board skills and experience

Adrian has a extensive experience in the property market and experience on the Board of a number of Proptech companies.

Other appointments

• Chairman of Autoenhance.ai
• Non-Executive Director at Various

Gareth Helm

Non-Executive Director

Gareth joined the Board in October 2022.

Committees

None

Career

Gareth has over 30 years’ experience in marketing, with half this time in senior executive roles. From mature businesses like McDonalds, Mars and HomeServe, to growth businesses like ZPG, Checkatrade and Tails.com. He is recognised as one of the UK’s top 100 most effective marketers and is a Fellow of The Marketing Academy. 

ZPG was the digital media business that owned Zoopla, PrimeLocation, uSwitch and Money.co.uk, and the B2B property brands like Hometrack, Ravensworth and Property Software Group. It attracted c.60m visits per month and generated over 5m partner leads per month. Gareth was a member of the C-suite team behind the success of ZPG, the wide-ranging acquisitions and the subsequent sale to Silver Lake in 2019 for £2.5 billion.

Board skills and experience

Gareth has steered the growth on many well-known brands and has significant experience in the property market. 

Other appointments

• Non-Executive Director Higgidy Food (Part of Samworth Brothers)
• Managing Director at Sideminds, a marketing leadership consultancy

Elona Mortimer-Zhika

Non-Executive Director

Elona joined the Board in September 2020.

Committees

Audit Committee (Chair)

Career

In 2016 Elona joined IRIS Software Group as Chief Financial Officer. IRIS is backed by Hg, Europe’s leading software investor.

Elona was promoted to Chief Operating Officer in 2018 and became Chief Executive Officer in September 2019.

Before joining IRIS, Elona held several senior leadership roles at big four accountancy firms and private equity-backed businesses, including Mavenir, Acision, Arthur Andersen and Deloitte.

Elona has a First Class Honours Degree in Accounting and Economics and is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales.

She is also a patron of Boardwave, a powerful community of software leaders.

Her awards include Top 50 Women in Accounting 2021; UK Tech Awards Business Woman of the Year 2020; Global Banking and Finance Businesswoman of the Year UK 2020; and Venus National Finance Professional of the Year 2018.

Elona is passionate about diversity and is a mentor in the F-Ten ICAEW programme supporting women in leadership positions.

Board skills and experience

As Chief Executive Officer of IRIS, Elona is responsible for guiding the strategic direction and managing all operations across the Group.

Other appointments

• Chief Executive Officer of IRIS Software Group

Ait Vonke

Non-Executive Director

Ait joined the Board in July 2022 as the Axel Springer Board representative.

Committees

None

Career

Ait joined AVIV Group, which comprises Axel Springer’s online classifieds offering for real estate, as CEO in January 2021. Ait previously served as Senior Vice President and General Manager at Expedia Group after being a part of the founding team of Groupon in Europe. Ait began his career at Accenture where he spent over a decade advising technology companies globally and latterly founding the Internet, Media and Technology team for Accenture in Austria.

Board skills and experience

Ait sits on a number of boards and has 25 years of international experience in leading growth projects and organisational change, and setting up greenfield business. He has a passion for leading and motivating diverse teams, working in an international entrepreneurial environment and steering complex projects. He has an academic background in Engineering and Business Administration.

Other appointments

• Ait is a director of AVIV Group GmbH, Digital Classifieds France SAS, Immoweb SA, Housell Inmo Online Services Sl, and is a director of the voluntary supervisory board of Falguiere Conseil SAS and Homeday GmbH.