Mark Campbell

Mark Campbell left behind a high-flying career in London, managing multi-billion-dollar portfolios and investment programmes in Asia-Pacific and Europe, to try his luck starting his own investment fund in New Zealand.

Leaving an established career to start his own venture alongside a childhood friend, namesake Mark Hurley, was no easy decision. But it paid off, with Jasper becoming one of New Zealand’s largest industrial property fund managers within two years.

“It was the unique combination of our backgrounds. I genuinely felt we had an opportunity to build something different and exciting against an industry backdrop that had been incredibly old school for a long time.”

What set Jasper apart was its use of emerging technology to change the way commercial property is acquired, managed, and ultimately accessed by investors.Despite starting the business in the midst of a global pandemic, the business experienced early and rapid success – scaling revenue and rapidly growing assets under management. 

Mark’s broad operating and investing experience gave him an ideal vantage point for steering Jasper’s strategic direction.

“Our goal with Jasper from the beginning was to build a next-generation commercial real estate firm combining institutional-grade investment strategies with cutting-edge technology. That business model has had to constantly evolve as we've navigated the Covid-19 pandemic and the current turbulent macro-environment.”

Jasper has grown to serve more than 400 investors and has over $350m of commercial real estate in Australasia on its books. 

Mark's deep relationships with some of the world's largest institutional investors have been critical to what he has achieved in New Zealand. 

“For me, it's the relationships you make during your career, and life in general, that are the most important part, particularly in property. Maintaining the global relationships I've made in the last decade has been crucial to Jasper’s growth, not to mention staying tight with an old schoolmate.”

Off the back of Jasper’s success, the pair have spun out their technology into a new independent company called Caruso, which offers software solutions built specifically for fund managers, and each runs Jasper and Caruso separately.  

Mark is now focused on growing the business into new asset classes and territories and he has also co-founded a successful residential property development company based in London, which he is still actively involved in from New Zealand, coincidentally, also with two of his closest friends.

“You always want to work with good people you like and respect, who you can learn from, and who want to achieve similar things.”

Looking back to the start of his career, he says his Bachelor of Property degree was an ideal foundation for his unique career in the real estate industry.

“The BProp was a great passage into the property industry as it equips you with skills in communication, data and information analysis, marketing and research, all in the context of the property sector.”

He also credits his role at M7 Real Estate in London as a career turning point. When he resigned in 2019 to return to New Zealand, M7 invested in his new venture. 

“Aside from Jasper, I learnt the most in my career at M7, particularly how to build a culture where people genuinely care about the business and the people in it and can be themselves. I’ve tried to replicate that at Jasper.

 “We have an incredibly talented, passionate and close-knit team at Jasper that takes a lot of pride in what the business has become because we've all built it together.”