Despina Katsikakis

Over the past 40 years, Despina has consistently pioneered the science of evaluating employee priorities and evolving trends of office users. This has led to innovation and implementation of transformative workplace environments for global corporates such as: Accenture, Barclays, BBC, BP, Cisco, Deutsche Bank, GSK, Google, HSBC, Microsoft, Morgan Stanley & Unilever and substantial improvements in the design of exemplary real estate developments for investors worldwide. In her role at Cushman & Wakefield, she inputs across the firm’s global business, on the rapidly-changing context of work and its impact on employee engagement, productivity, wellbeing and the future role & purpose of the office. With these factors increasingly determining the real estate decisions of leading corporations, Despina’s unrivalled insight on the future of work benefits occupiers, developers and investors – through repositioning commercial real estate to drive top line performance, cultural aspirations, ESG commitments & profitability. She is the current President of the British Council of Offices (BCO) and the host of the upcoming ‘Purpose of Place’ podcast. She regularly lectures, writes and contributes to media, research and publications on the future of the workplace and serves on various advisory boards including Delos™, the founders of the WELL Building Standard.