Nicholas Leeming, the property portal pioneer, has been appointed chairman of national estate agents Jackson-Stops & Staff.
Leeming founded the UK’s first property portal, Propertyfinder, with his brother back in the nineties. He stayed with the business through various incarnations, changes of name, ownership and management until stepping down from what had become Zoopla last year.
Leeming, who commands huge respect throughout the industry, has since taken on a role as non-executive director of the franchise lettings group Belvoir.
His latest role is at a firm that has a lineage stretching back 103 years. Jackson-Stops & Staff today has 42 offices nationwide, spanning country houses, farms and estates, listed buildings, residential development and professional services.
He takes over as chairman from Andrew Froude, who joined the company as a newly qualified chartered surveyor in 1963 and has held the office of chairman since 1992 when he was instrumental in restructuring the business to its current format.
Since Froude took over the chairmanship, the business has expanded from a 14-strong office practice to its current network. The firm has an unusual business model, calling itself a “democratic consortium”.
Leeming himself is a chartered surveyor and former partner of Humberts estate agents (now Chesterton Humberts).
He said: “I am delighted to be taking on the chairmanship of such a well-respected firm.”
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Comments
D'oh!!
Leeson, NOT Leeman. Apologies.
'spindr' - "Didn't propertyfinder fail as a major portal under a series of incarnations?"
Did it "fail"? What, then, is success?
The article describes Mr Leeman as 'a pioneer'. If pioneers do not succeed in what they set out to do - or spur on others to do the same - then nobody follows them.
A certain Wilbur Wright stalled and never made it off the ground. Three days later, his brother Orville managed to lift ten feet off the ground for a distance of 120 feet, in a twelve second flight.
I guess they also failed, by your reckoning.
The guys at RM, Zp etc may have a different view of their 'pioneer'.
Congratulation Nick. JS & S are in safe hands!
Congrats!!!
@spindr
Propertyfinder was one of the very first portals and extremely well run by Nick and his brother. If Primelocation hadn't cut the ground out from under them by making it a condition that agents could not list with any portal other than P/L (strange feeling of deja vu here - re Agents Mutual????) then Propertyfinder might well have become what Rightmove is today. And you can bet your bottom dollar that a gentleman and good businessman like Nick Leeming would not have behaved like RM does today.
Didn't propertyfinder fail as a major portal under a series of incarnations? I'm sorry but the site didnt cut it. How much did zoopla pick them up for in the end...anyone know?
Congratulations Nick