Connells boss marks a new milestone with business

Our best wishes go to Stephen Shipperley, one of estate agency’s most influential figures, who has marked his 35th anniversary with Connells.

He joined the company as a trainee and is now group executive chairman, credited with having turned Connells into a major player.

When he joined as a trainee negotiator in 1977, Connells was privately owned and had just 25 branches and around 180 employees. It now has almost 500 branches and around 4,500 staff and is the second largest agent in the UK after Countrywide.

Having taken on the role of chief executive for Connells in 1990, Shipperley presided over a string of acquisitions. 

In 1996, along with colleagues, he masterminded the ground-breaking joint venture with Skipton Building Society that saw the senior management of Connells take a significant equity stake in the company. 
 
In 2003 he instigated the acquisition of Sequence from Royal and Sun Alliance which more than trebled the size of the company. In the same year he was promoted to group chief executive and a string of other acquisitions have since followed. 
 
Earlier, in 2000 he became a founding director, and Connells a founding shareholder, in Rightmove, at that time a fledgling concept. Critics will say that one of Connells’ few major errors of judgement was to dispose of its Rightmove shares – an 18% stake – as the market hit rock bottom in December 2008.
 
Nevertheless, Shipperley is not one to waste time on regrets (and the firm is now an investor in Zoopla, Rightmove’s rival).

He said: “When I joined Connells in 1977, although we had just 25 branches, we were already pioneering aspects of estate agency that, whilst commonplace today, were then revolutionary.

“What is now the Connells Group has changed exponentially over the years and I feel very privileged to have been part of its growth and success.  

“However, although the group is now a very substantial operation, it still has the feel of a smaller, entrepreneurial business where people really matter. 

“We have countless examples of people, like me, who have spent their entire careers at Connells, which speaks volumes about the culture of the business and the loyalty it invokes in the people that work here.
 
“From my first interview with Eddie Moss and David White in 1977 I have been blessed with working for and with many talented and charismatic people.

“It is those people that have made my 35 years so exciting and enjoyable, and I am delighted to be celebrating this milestone anniversary with the company.”