Connells Group chairman announces retirement

Connells Group chairman Stephen Shipperley is set to retire at the end of 2022.

It comes as he marked his 45th anniversary with the business earlier this month. 

Shipperley started his career 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 would become the most profitable branch in Connells for much of the 1980s. 

He rose through the ranks, becoming a director in 1988, chief executive in 1990 and then became Connells Group chairman in 2008. 

During his tenure, Connells Group has gone from being a 20 branch regional estate agency to become the UK’s largest property services group, with more than 1,250 branches employing 16,000 colleagues.

His milestones include taking Connells private in 1996 in a management buyout backed by the Skipton Building Society and the formation of Rightmove in 2000 with Connells a founding shareholder.

He has also been involved in several acquisitions, including for Sequence, Gascoigne Halman, The New Homes Group and more recently Countrywide.

Shipperley said: “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, chief executive of the Connells Group, 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.”