Paolo Alonzi

Paolo is an alumnus of Edinburgh Napier University where he graduated with a Batchelor of Arts (with Distinction) in Accounting in 1992.  He went on to qualify as a Chartered Accountant with the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland.  Having completed his accountancy training with a small Edinburgh firm Paolo moved to PwC where he specialised in Tax.  In 2003 Paolo joined Standard Life Investments (“SLI”) (now abrdn plc) where he remained until January 2022.  

During his time at SLI/abrdn Paolo occupied a number of roles and in 2010 he took on the role as Chief Operating Officer (“COO”) for the real estate division with assets under management of nearly £40bn and over 100 real estate investment strategies.  As COO Paolo was responsible for a multi-disciplinary team of finance, tax, legal, ESG and other professionals.   Paolo was a member of the senior leadership team responsible for providing strategic leadership and input at both business and product/strategy level whilst also being responsible for overseeing and managing the profitability of the real estate division.  Paolo was also heavily involved in and often lead on a number of high-profile initiatives including a wide range of product launches, the industry leading merger of two open ended property funds, and the development of the firm’s commercial real estate lending platform, as well as playing a key role in developing the firm’s leading real estate ESG capability.

Paolo is also recognised as a real estate industry figurehead.  Paolo is a Board member at the Association of Real Estate Funds and a former member of the Government led Productive Finance Working Group jointly chaired by the Governor of the Bank of England, the Economic Secretary to the Treasury and the CEO of the FCA.