PIPA announces changes to leadership team

As of Friday, 1 December, Peter Koulizos takes the role of chairperson at the Property Investment Professionals of Australia (PIPA) board of directors, after former chairman Ben Kingsley stepped down from the role following five years of service.

Dubbed the “property professor”, Mr Koulizos was first appointed as a director in 2015, and assumed his new role as chair on Friday.

Mr Koulizos has 20 years of experience as a property developer, investor and teacher of real estate and investment in several educational institutions.

“I am honoured to be elected as the PIPA chairman, especially as the association is going from strength to strength thanks to the stewardship of outgoing chairman Ben Kingsley over the past five years,” Mr Koulizos said.

The chairman pledged to lead the organisation’s battle for increased regulation of the “property investment advice space”.

The new chairman said: “While PIPA’s membership and brand is growing solidly, our fight for regulation in the property investment advice space continues, with far too many investors still losing significant sums of money due to unscrupulous spruikers masquerading as advisers.”

As well as the change of chairpersonship, two appointments were revealed: board director David MacMillan will now serve as deputy chairman following the reshuffle; and Paul Glossop, a licensed buyers’ agent and founder and managing director of Pure Property Investment, becomes a new addition to the association’s board of directors.

[Related: PIPA urges government to adopt ‘sensible’ measures]