Connells Group has just announced that its chairman Stephen Shipperley is set to retire at the end of this year after 14 years in the role and a total of 45 years with the company. His replacement has not yet been appointed.
Shipperley, who celebrated his 45th anniversary with the business earlier this month, started his career with Connells Group in 1977 as an 18-year-old trainee negotiator at the Connells Aylesbury branch, before becoming branch manager at Connells High Wycombe aged 21.
The High Wycombe branch under his watch become the most profitable branch in Connells for much of the 1980s, helping to propel Shipperley through the ranks, becoming a director at the business in 1988 and chief executive in 1990, and Connells Group chairman in 2008.
He has played a major role in helping to make Connells Group the industry force it is today, cementing its position as one of the largest estate agency company in the UK property industry. In 2021, Connells Group had a turnover of circa £1bn and profits of over £181m.
During Shipperley’s tenure, Connells Group has gone from being a 20-branch regional estate agency to become the UK’s largest property services group, with over 1,250 branches employing 16,000 colleagues.
Key milestones include:
+ Taking Connells private in 1996 in a management buyout backed by the Skipton Building Society
+ The formation of Rightmove in 2000 with Connells a founding shareholder; Shipperley remained a director of Rightmove for over a decade
+ The acquisition of Sequence from Royal & Sun Alliance in 2003 that more than trebled the size of Connells Group at the time
+ The acquisition of well-established regional businesses such as Sharman Quinney, Peter Alan, Burchell Edwards, Gascoigne Halman and Rook Matthews Sayer
+ The acquisition of The New Homes Group in 2007
+ The acquisition of Countrywide in March 2021 which more than doubled the size of the then Connells Group
Shipperley commented: “I have been extraordinarily fortunate and lucky in my career. Firstly to join estate agency as a profession and, most importantly, to have joined Connells.
“The business has trained and developed me, given me opportunities and challenges, and enabled me to work with a wonderful team of talented and driven people who have made the business what it is today. Connells Group is blessed with a results-focused, dynamic culture where people are at the centre of everything we do; a true meritocracy.
“The business has been able to achieve the great things that it has because of the experience and strength in depth of the management within the business, and I am immensely proud to have been a part of that management team.”
David Livesey, Connells Group CEO, added: “After such a long and successful career with us, Stephen will leave a lasting impact on the business. His appetite for innovation and hunger for success have shaped who we are today and we thank him for his years of service to Connells Group.”
BIG RESPECT from me. I appreciate there are people who’ll disagree and they are those who whinge and moan about their corporate competitors and believe its massively unfair they win instructions but here’s the truth of it. If you are still a service supplier, in a service industry [where you only get paid for doing a good job and win business from referral and recommendation] you are doing something right and have done for a very long time.
Seriously well done Mr. Shipperley you deserve the respect you’ve earned
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Quite agree Robert…….It is not by chance that the group has grown so consistently: strategic thinking, capacity to spot an opportunity, focus and an extraordinary capacity for work have played their part. Not only all of that but Stephen is a thoroughly nice guy.
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A phenomenal, highly respected bloke who is so understated, like most of the top Connells people.
Stephen has been transformational within Connells.
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A true industry great who has built an incredible business over a number of years and provided many with the opportunity to develop their career in agency.
The growth and success of the Connells business speaks for itself and Mr Shipperley should be rightly proud of his significant and numerous achievements.
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What a great achievement – many congratulations on a job well done!
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A huge debt of gratitude is owed to a man who, together with his senior team, has created thousands of jobs within the industry and helped developed the careers of so many. Connells are now in a class of their own within the industry and Stephen Shipperley has been the architect of all that has been achieved. He leaves a great legacy and will rightly reflect with enormous pride at what he and the team at Connells have produced. You have to respect the way that Stephen and the team at Connells keep their head down and get on with the job in hand and consistently produce industry leading results in every respect. Well done Stephen!!
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Funny-made me recall that after taking on an area in Birmingham and doing pretty well we together did a grand tour around the branches -as a reward I recall him taking me For Lunch at Watford Gap services -one thing you can say about Connells they certainly managed the bottom line Good luck RSS-good effort and I’m sure your intelligent leadership will be greatly missed.
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