Our Directors

Howard Phillips has dedicated his executive career to delivering strategic leadership and innovation in the UK real estate and property management sector. He produced a consistently strong track record having spent 25 years working for McCarthy & Stone, serving as CEO for 7 years, where he transformed the company from a UK housebuilder into an award-winning retirement lifestyle brand by building strategic alliances with key providers within the market.

His two most noteworthy achievements were in financial leadership and sector transformation.

Howard is now moving the retirement living sector forward at a more rapid pace with PegasusLife, supported by the significant resources of Oaktree Capital Management. His goal is for PegasusLife to become the most admired provider of supported housing for older people in Britain – innovative, trusted, recognised and respected.

He has 33 years of experience within the sector, with an MBA from the University of Hertford, a BSc in estate management and property development from Leicester and is a fellow of the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors.

Over the course of his career, Mark has gained significant experience in contracting, development and systems integration. He spent fourteen years as an Architect and Director, working in Europe, Asia and North America, before holding directorial roles at BAA and First Base. He was then appointed Development & Design Director and Global Head of Architecture at Laing O’Rourke in London.

Prior to joining PegasusLife, Mark was Executive Vice President at airport developers ADAC. There he played a central role in delivering a 700,000 sq. m airport terminal building with 26,000 sq.m of retail space and a capacity for 30 million passengers.

Bringing his extensive experience of working on development projects across a variety of sectors, Mark joined PegasusLife as Chief Operations Officer in 2016.

Ian joined PegasusLife in 2013, having previously worked as Finance Director at Hamptons International for 7 years. He set up and managed overseas operations in India, Italy and Morocco and was a main board director of Hamptons International Ltd, Hamptons International Mortgages Ltd and the Hamptons-CBRE joint venture. More recently, he was Chief Financial Officer at Audley Retirement for 3 years where he was shortlisted for Young FD of the year 2012 and commended for being a “world class Finance Director”.

Ian trained as a chartered accountant at Ernst & Young and has spent most of his working life demonstrating an excellent understanding of the property market while amassing key contacts and relationships built up over a number of years. Ian also has significant experience of corporate transactions, investment decisions, business development and restructuring.

In recent financing, Ian successfully negotiated and completed a £450m, 7-year development finance facility which will fund the business to maturity and beyond.

Ali is a Senior Executive with 23 years expertise in Sales, Marketing and Customer Experience in the hospitality and leisure sector. She has a proven track record of accelerating profitable growth, turnaround and transformation.

She was formerly Global Chief Commercial Officer for Fitness First - the world's largest privately owned health club provider, and prior to that held senior leadership positions in top-flight international companies including InterContinental Hotels Group, Hilton and Whitbread. She won the award for 2017 Business Woman of the Year - Retail and Consumer and is a diversity & inclusion champion.

Ali is a member of the PegasusLife Group Board and has responsibility for our Sales, Marketing and Customer Experience functions. She is a very driven commercially astute leader who excels in delivering results, change leadership and developing talent.

Clare has a wealth of experience in hospitality and customer experience. She believes that a resolute focus on the evolving needs of the consumer will deliver the best commercial and environmental results for any business.

Prior to joining PegasusLife, Clare worked at Deutsche Bank, developing their worldwide customer and workplace experience. With a brief to communicate the Deutsche Bank brand in reception spaces, office, restaurants, meeting rooms and conference spaces, she led a global service redesign project impacting 2000 offices in 84 countries.

Clare also spent 4 years at Virgin Atlantic Airways, working on the airport experience for premium customers. This led to multiple industry accolades for best business lounges, and her work was recognised at the world travel awards in 2009, 2010 and 2012.

In 2012, having already led a project to reinvent the on-board food and beverage experience for first class and premium travelers, Clare created and drove a new customer service strategy for all 5000 Virgin Atlantic customer-facing teams. This project delivered, for the first time, a customer service experience that was connected and consistent across all areas of the business. Through celebrating the personality and individuality of team members, this market-leading approach ensured exemplary service, while voicing the ethos of the brand. Clare brings this extensive experience to her role as Customer Experience Director for PegasusLife.

Mike has over 30 years experience in the Residential housing market.

After graduating Mike joined Westbury Homes (subsequently taken over by Persimmon) in 1985 on a post-graduate Development Programme. There he gained experience in the Planning, Construction and Quantity Surveying disciplines, eventually achieving the position of Chief Surveyor.

Mike joined Pegasus in 1991 rising from Commercial Manager to the role of Commercial Director, being responsible for construction, commercial and customer care in the business. Prior to the acquisition of Pegasus by Oaktree, Mike delivered over 50 successful developments with a cost variance of less than 1% while ensuring that a high standard of customer care was achieved with a year on year owner recommendation of over 95%.

As part of his current role of Regional Development Director, Mike is responsible for the delivery of the company’s developments in the South West.

Mike is a Chartered Surveyor (MRICS), a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Building (FCIOB) and was also one of the early Chartered Directors (FIOD) after completing a number of leadership and financial programmes.

John has over 25 years of experience in planning, development and land acquisition.

His career began in 1991 after achieving a degree in Town & Country Planning with private planning consultancy Broadway Malyan. The next 9 years took him to Chartered Surveyors Grant and Partners, and Rolfe Judd Planning where he became an Associate Director.

In 2000, John joined Berkeley Homes as a Development Manager; two years later he was promoted to Land Director and became a member of the Divisional Board. Following this successful period at Berkeley, John moved on to work for Brooksplace, a private property company where he joined as Development Director. It was his role to lead the planning and development focus of the business, utilising his skills in town planning and residential led mixed-use developments.

After nearly 5 years at Brooksplace, John joined Barratt Homes as Development Director for the West London office. He was a Divisional Board Director, responsible for implementing the Divisional Business Plan as the company sought to deal with the market post-recession. He was responsible for land identification and acquisition, conceiving the most profitable development solution for the development site, progressing the site through the planning process, securing the planning permission and all necessary legal agreements. In 2011 John re-joined the Berkeley Group, and worked as Land Director for Berkeley First, the specialist company dealing with the development of Student Accommodation.

In January 2013, John joined PegasusLife as Land Director focusing in London and the South East.