PropertyGuru appoints Rachna Bhasin to Board of Directors as an Independent Director
Brings Global Executive and Board Experience for Publicly listed Companies
PropertyGuru Group ("PropertyGuru" or "the Group"), Southeast Asia's leading property technology ("PropTech") company1, today announced Rachna Bhasin has joined its Board as an Independent, Non-Executive Director. PropertyGuru's Board of Directors is now comprised of 50% Independent Directors demonstrating the Group's continued focus on governance.
Ms. Bhasin, who has worked in the U.S., Hong Kong, Australia and New Zealand, has built her career leading global companies in the technology, music and consumer internet industries through successful digital transformations to stay ahead of emerging consumer trends. She served in senior roles at Sirius XM, Magic Leap, Dell and EMI Music, where she was responsible for corporate strategy, business development, M&A, digital engagement and consumer partnerships, as these organizations accelerated their growth to capture the opportunities created by fundamental market changes and large secular trends.
She currently serves as an Independent Director on the Board of two publicly listed companies, Shutterstock (NYSE:SSTK), where she is a member of the Nominating and Corporate Governance and Human Resources committees, and Ryman Hospitality Properties (NYSE:RHP), where she is a member of the Nominating and Corporate Governance and Compensation committees. She is also the Founder and CEO of EQ Partners, which provides strategic advisory and consulting services to U.S. and European companies in the media and technology industries. In addition, she is the Co-Founder of Pacifica Investments, an advisory and investment firm that works to identify and amplify innovative and disruptive technologies, brands and entrepreneurs from New Zealand and across Asia Pacific.
Ms. Bhasin joins PropertyGuru's Board as the Group prepares to become a public company listed on the NYSE following its previously announced planned business combination with Bridgetown 2 Holdings Limited (NASDAQ:BTNB) ("Bridgetown 2"), a special purpose acquisition company formed by Pacific Century Group and Thiel Capital LLC. Ms. Bhasin will be PropertyGuru's fourth Independent, Non-Executive Director and will serve on the Audit & Risk Committee ("ARC"), which is entirely comprised of Independent Directors.
Hari V. Krishnan, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, PropertyGuru Group, said "PropertyGuru is at the forefront of reshaping Southeast Asia's property market and Rachna's proven technology, entrepreneurial and public company Board experiences will be invaluable as we carry out our mission to help people find, finance and own their homes in an efficient and transparent manner. Rachna understands our journey and shares our passion for the digital transformation we are driving in the property sector.
"The investments in our business and the strategic acquisitions that we made over the past two years have positioned us well to capture the significant opportunities being created in Southeast Asia's property market by powerful, long-term macroeconomic trends: urbanization, a rising middle class and digitalization. As our fourth Independent Director, Rachna joins our seasoned board which has driven an ever-increasing level of governance for the Group, and has been an invaluable sounding board to our professional management team. We are thrilled to welcome Rachna to PropertyGuru and look forward to her many contributions in the years to come."
Rachna Bhasin, said, "PropertyGuru is one of those special, once-in-a-generation companies that is helping transform a legacy industry by leveraging the power and reach of technology. I am incredibly impressed with what Hari and his talented team have built and I am excited to join the Board at this crucial time in the Company's journey. I believe my complementary skills and deep understanding of technology-enabled platform businesses will help the Group build on its trusted and transparent online property marketplaces to offer an even greater range of products and services across the property value chain, and create lasting value for all our stakeholders."
With Ms. Bhasin's appointment, PropertyGuru's Board of Directors expands to 8 Directors:
- Olivier Lim, Independent Non-Executive Director, Chairman
- Hari V Krishnan (CEO & Managing Director, PropertyGuru), Executive Director
- Jenny Macdonald, Independent Non-Executive Director, Chair Audit and Risk Committee
- Melanie Wilson, Independent Non-Executive Director, Chair Nomination Remuneration and Compensation Committee
- Rachna Bhasin, Independent Non-Executive Director
- Steve Melhuish (Co-Founder, PropertyGuru), Non-Executive Director
- Dominic Picone, Non-Executive Director
- Ashish Shastry, Non-Executive Director
About Rachna Bhasin
Prior to EQ Partners and Pacifica Investments, Ms. Bhasin was the Chief Business Officer for Magic Leap, Inc., a spatial computing company, from October 2015 through January 2019. She previously served as SVP, Corporate Strategy and Business Development at Sirius XM Radio, Inc. from November 2010 through October 2015.
Earlier in her career, Ms. Bhasin held positions at Dell, Inc., where she led the Company's consumer strategic partnership and personalization, and at EMI Music North America, serving as Vice President of Business Development.
In addition to sitting on the Shutterstock and Ryman Hospitality Boards of Directors, she serves on the Boards of Audiomack, a private company providing a music streaming and audio distribution platform, and Austin City Limits.
Ms. Bhasin holds a Bachelor of Commerce and Administration with Honours from the Victoria University of Wellington in New Zealand and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.
About PropertyGuru Group
PropertyGuru Group is Southeast Asia's leading property technology company1, and the preferred destination for 37 million property seekers to find their dream home, every month. PropertyGuru and its group companies empower property seekers with more than 2.8 million real estate listings, in-depth insights, and solutions that enable them to make confident property decisions across Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, and Vietnam.
PropertyGuru.com.sg was launched in 2007 and has helped to drive the Singapore property market online and has made property search transparent for the property seeker. Over the decade, the Group has grown into a high-growth technology company with a robust portfolio of leading property portals across its core markets company; award-winning mobile apps; a high quality developer sales enablement platform, FastKey; mortgage marketplace PropertyGuru Finance; and a host of other property offerings including Awards, events and publications across Asia.
For more information, please visit: PropertyGuruGroup.com; PropertyGuru Group on LinkedIn.
________________________________
1 In terms of relative engagement market share based on SimilarWeb data.
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210825005877/en/