Property Finder appoints Facebook and Google tech veteran as new President
- The Group’s new President, Ari Kesisoglu has a 15-year track record in leadership positions in both Facebook and Google
- Kesisoglu follows suit in Property Finder’s recent strengthening of its leadership team, with C levels from PepsiCo and seek.com now part of the Group
Property Finder has announced tech veteran of Facebook and Google, Ari Kesisoglu as their company President. Kesisoglu previously held the position of Vice President for the MEA region at Facebook, and prior to that, held various leadership positions in Google for over a decade. This hire is part of a recruitment push from the MENA region’s leading property portal, to fast track the scaling up of the Group and secure a clear leadership position in the countries it operates in.
The company has also recently appointed other top talents like Anuradha Challu from PepsiCo as Chief Human Resources Officer, and Jakson Peters from job classifieds website seek.com as Chief Financial Officer.
The seasoned technology leader Kesisoglu, is uniquely positioned to apply learnings from his stint at global tech practices to shape and launch innovative products at Property Finder that will benefit the user’s house-hunting journey.
“Property Finder is one of the largest technology start-ups in the region and I believe it is still in its early days. I am extremely excited to take the company to the next stage in its journey. We will help people in our region use technology in two of the most important decisions in their lives; where they live and where they make their real estate investments. With great partners in the industry and an amazing team, Property Finder is positioned well in its journey to success,” said Ari.
Property Finder has always pioneered change and put UAE technology on the global map, by raising capital worth $120 million from a leading private equity firm such as General Atlantic, which lends capital and strategic support for growth companies across the globe, including tech giants such as Airbnb and Uber, and more recently by attracting top talents from global companies across the world.
“Building a culture and an office environment that can attract the best talents to the UAE has always been on top of my agenda. So, attracting a senior executive from Facebook and previously Google is a huge testimony to the culture we’ve built. After 15 years with two of the best global tech businesses, Ari knows what good looks like and will bring the operational excellence required for Property Finder to succeed at scale. He combines digital knowledge with a strong understanding of the region and I’m excited to be working with him,” said Michael Lahyani, CEO and Founder, Property Finder.