After leading PropertyGuru Group for the past nine years, co-founder and CEO Steve Melhuish is taking over a new role as the Vice Chairman of PropertyGuru, while the President and Chief Business Officer (CBO) Hari V. Krishnan was promoted as the new CEO with immediate effect.
With the new leadership change, Krishnan will be managing the day-to-day operations. Meanwhile, Melhuish will focus on the firm’s long-term strategy, business growth and key client relationships.
At the same time, PropertyGuru’s Managing Director and co-founder Jani Rautiainen has taken up a new role as the Executive Director, supporting the group’s long-term business development, continuing to help shape the company and product strategy.
Krishnan was also appointed as one of the board of directors, together with the co-founders, Melhuish and Rautiainen.
This transition was planned since two years ago as to develop a solid leadership team, where Krishnan was identified as the potential successor for the CEO role in 2015.
Krishnan was previously the Vice President for Asia Pacific and Japan at LinkedIn, and brings over 15 years of leadership experience in the technology industry in the US and Asia.
“I am excited to lead the company’s next phase of growth. I look forward to working closely with our leadership team, the board and our employees to serve all of our constituents – consumers, customers, partners and investors,” said Krishnan, the newly appointed CEO.
On a separate note, the current Managing Director of Singapore operations, Lewis Ng, was promoted as the CBO with immediate effect. In addition to overseeing Singapore, Ng will now focus on driving revenue growth across the other key markets – Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand.
“PropertyGuru is in a very strong position today, with our brands holding the number one position in all our core markets. Revenue and traffic continue to grow rapidly, and we’re on track to return to profitability next year – after five years of aggressive investment in regional expansion, product innovation, marketing and developing a world-class leadership team. As such, Jani and I felt that now was the right time to pass the baton,” said Melhuish.
“Jani and I remain very much part of PropertyGuru. We continue to be 100 percent committed to supporting the company’s mission of helping property seekers across Asia make confident property decisions.”
Melhuish co-founded PropertyGuru due to his personal frustrations of trying to find a new home in 2006. Since then, the company has grown to become Southeast Asia’s leading online real estate platform, used by over 16 million property seekers every month. Today, it generates over S$15 billion worth of transactions per annum.
Mangalesri Chandrasekaran, Editor at PropertyGuru, edited this story. To contact her about this or other stories email mangales@propertyguru.com.my
