Our Team

Gary Bell, MRICS - Director, Head of Hotels, Hospitality & Leisure

Gary Bell holds over 18 years’ property experience, with 9 years served across the MENA region. He has been a professional member of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) since 2009.

As Head of Hotels, Hospitality and Leisure, Gary advises a number of private investors, financial institutions, holding companies and Government entities across a variety of assets within the MENA region. He provides valuation advice for multiple purposes, including auditing, acquisition and disposal, financial reporting and secured lending.

Gary also has a wealth of commercial and residential property knowledge and his market knowledge and understanding of investor, developer and occupational requirements and aspirations enables him to provide figures in a proper context. He is keen to ensure that an appropriate strategy can be put in place when considering particular property assets.

Gary has also asset managed large commercial property portfolios for a mixture of private and public sector clients. His duties involved, lease restructuring, lease renewals, rent reviews, equity rent reviews, business rate advice, acquisition and disposals.

Simone Dobson, MIAM - Chief Services Officer

Simone Dobson is the Chief Services Officer for Chestertons MENA, responsible for services and technology transformation in addition to delivering the Regional Strategic Plan.  She has more than twenty-five years of international real estate experience, during which time she has worked for global companies such as CBRE and JLL in addition to local UAE brands delivering Asset, Property and Facilities Management Services.

Simone’s experience covers all assets across all industry classes, and she has held positions on both Client side and Supplier side. Focusing on value driven service delivery, key achievements include the handover of several high profile commercial and residential projects from Construction to Operations and subsequent Defect Liability Management as well as the preparation of Property and Facility Management strategies for buildings and communities across EMEA, South and Southeast Asia and the UK.  She has also worked with a number of architectural teams offering input to design for future operational cost efficiencies.

Simone is a formal member of the Institute of Asset Management. She is also a member of American Society for Industrial Security (ASIS) and Royal United Services Institute (RUSI).   Most recently she obtained her NEBOSH International General Certificate qualification.

Adam Wilson, MRICS - Head of Valuations and Advisory

Adam is Director and Head of Valuations for Chestertons MENA, based in Dubai and has over 8 years’ experience working in the MENA region. His current role includes overseeing valuations for developers, financiers, institutional investors, sovereign wealth funds and private clients throughout the MENA region.

Adam has over 20 years’  broad property and real estate valuation experience that includes the UK, UAE, Egypt, Lebanon, KSA, Bahrain, Jordan and Oman markets. Prior to joining Chestertons, Adam spent 4 years as an Associate Director for Jones Lang LaSalle in Dubai where his experience included valuations of substantial property portfolios, land banks, development land and various operating assets including retails, offices, industrial, staff accommodation and residential communities. Adam’s main role was in International Valuations which focused on Egypt, Lebanon, Oman and KSA.

Prior to joining JLL, Adam spent 10 years as an Associate Director for FHP Property Consultants in the UK where he undertook valuations on a varied range of property assets and land and a key area of Adam’s work was in acting as Expert Witness and Single Joint Expert, primarily for professional negligence claims but also on other disputes and litigation matters such as matrimonial disputes and probate.

Adam gained a BSc Hons in Real Estate Management from Nottingham Trent University and has been a Member of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) since 2007. He is also an Associate Member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (ACIArb), an RICS and RERA Registered Valuer.

Ellen Sleutjes - Head of Property and Facilities Management

With a solid Real Estate background extending over more than 15 years in both the UK and UAE, Ellen has gained experience in many aspects of the real estate Industry including Asset Management, Association Management, Estate and Facilities Management, Property Management, Sales and Leasing, as well as Business Development and Marketing.

Ellen started her career in Sales and Leasing but subsequently moved into Property and Asset Management, which is where her expertise lies. Over her career, she has managed some of the largest residential and commercial portfolios in the region, owned by high net worth Individuals and large corporate multinational organizations.

She has established and restructured property management departments for the likes of Al Habtoor and Emaar and has led the Estate and Association management of luxury developments such as the St Regis Residences in Abu Dhabi.

Prior to Chestertons Ellen led the Property Management team at the St. Regis Residences for CBRE, was Director of Property Management and Leasing at Driven Properties.  Head of Property Management at Hamptons International LCC (Emaar), as well as being a former Director of Property Management for Habtoor Properties LLC.

Nick Witty, MRICS - CEO (Middle East & North Africa)

Nick is the Managing Director for Chestertons MENA based in Dubai and has over thirty years’ experience in real estate advisory, including acquisition and disposal, development feasibility, facilities and property management, leasing, marketing, and valuations. He has been permanently based in the Middle East since 1998.

Prior to joining Chestertons, Nick was Head of Real Estate (Northern Gulf) for Deloitte based in Dubai and Regional Managing Director for DTZ (Cushman Wakefield), based in Doha.

Nick’s key clients include banks, developers, government departments, multi-national corporates, and investors located around the wider Gulf region including Bahrain, Egypt, Kuwait, Libya, Oman, KSA, and the UAE.

Nick gained a BSc (Hons) degree in Urban Estate Surveying from Nottingham Trent University in 1988 and qualified as a Chartered Surveyor in 1992 whilst working for DTZ in London and is also a RERA Registered Valuer and a Registered Valuer of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors.