The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors’ (RICS) new presidential team has begun its tenure two months earlier than planned following the recent resignation the organisation’s chief executive and senior members of its executive board. This comes after the publication this month of a damaging external review of its corporate governance.

RICS’ presidential team for 2021-22 includes Clement Lau as president, supported by Ann Gray as president-elect and Tina Paillet as senior vice-president.

Incoming RICS president Lau is currently the director and head of development and valuations for commercial property with Hongkong Land. He is a fellow member of RICS (FRICS) and has held a number of roles within the institution, including as chair of the RICS Hong Kong Board and member of the RICS Asia Regional Board.

Gray is a real estate broker and licensed architect based in Los Angeles with more than 25 years’ experience. She runs her own practice in California and previously held the US Market Seat on the Governing Council.

Paillet is an international real estate executive with more than 25 years of experience in the built environment across asset management, development projects and sustainable investment.

The appointments come following a number of high ranking resignations, with chief executive Sean Tompkins, president Kath Fontana, interim chair of the governing council Chris Brooke and chair of the management board Paul Marcuse all resigning from their positions earlier this month.

This followed the publication of an independent review into the organisation, which found that four non-executives who raised concerns over an audit were wrongly dismissed.

RICS directors were wrongfully dismissed, review says