Our People

John specialises in the inception, funding and execution of growth strategies, specifically market entry and acquisition, business development, new product innovation and business turnarounds.  Since founding Oculus in 2018, John has driven the specification of the market-leading Specialist Supported Living and Extra Care proactively engaging with commissioners and care providers and redefined the commercial model for engaging with top tier housing associations which has led to the delivery and sale of the initial Oculus portfolio.

Prior to founding Oculus, John founded Liquid Strategies as a boutique merchant banking operation with a proposition including institutional capital raises, the development of strategic business plans and the execution of growth strategies. John uses a highly analytical and research-driven approach to structuring and funding multi-faceted corporate ventures and commercial real estate deals.

He was previously engaged by Extended Stay America to execute a growth strategy involving the development of 35 new fully-owned next generation hotels. He formulated and implemented internal processes and reporting to manage the site identification and development process including site evaluation, feasibility and investment underwriting.

John’s corporate finance advisory projects have included structuring and securing a revolving development financing facility to support the construction and operational stabilisation for up to 100 UK nursing facilities and a to-be-formed and publicly listed UK nursing home REIT.  His remit included proving the investment case at a site and portfolio level and establishing the investment process for development and subsequent exit/transition into the REIT.

Prior to founding Liquid Strategies, John served on the international management team of Equifax, Inc. as VP of International Strategy and Market Development with responsibility for all operating countries outside the US, with specific accountability for formulating and executing a coherent growth and operating strategy for the newly formed International division.

John holds an MChem in Chemistry from Oriel College, Oxford University.

Christian has more than 25 years of technical and business experience bringing extensive experience in project development and delivery to Oculus. After spending his early career in petrochemical research at Exxon, Christian changed career paths and completed an MBA from Rice University shifting his focus from research to strategic development.

In support of growth and diversification, Christian was responsible for ensuring company strategic initiatives for new catalyst projects successfully translated into recurring business operations and positively impacted profitability.

Having completed a short sabbatical with leading consulting firm Arthur D Little supporting petrochemical clients globally, Christian rejoined the Exxon-Dow Joint Venture , Univation leading business development efforts to license catalyst technologies to international petrochemical players, coordinating a multi disciplinary team of local management, legal advisors and engineers. On the sale of Exxon’s stake in Univation to Dow, Christian undertook a similar role in Exxon itself.

Christian’s project experience is global, having managed project delivery and client relationships with multi-disciplinary teams in Asia, the Middle East and Europe.

After 20 years at Exxon, Christian joined Grace where he was responsible for global strategic marketing for polyethylene, transforming strategy into actionable steps for growth, performance management, and annual operations planning.

Christian earned a BSc and MA in chemistry and chemical engineering from the Technical University of Munich, a DPhil in Chemistry from the University of Oxford and an MBA from Rice University in Houston.

Simon spent the early part of his business career in the City of London trading on the London International Financial Futures Market (LIFFE) before taking a sabbatical to travel the world. On his return to London he changed career paths to enter the vast and varied world of Real Estate.

Simon joined Oculus Real Estate with a brief to deliver a National UK based pipeline for Specialist Supported Living and Extra Care developments. His role involved but was not limited to
identifying, negotiating and securing suitable sites with landowners, carrying out in depth financial analysis on the viability of the scheme and implementing deal structures that de-risk and limit financial exposure.

Simon is now responsible for Business Development across the Oculus offering. This senior role involves establishing dialogues and building relationships with key stakeholders at local government, Adult Social Care Commissioners at both City and County Councils as well as Registered Providers (Not for profit Housing Associations), Care Providers and Nursing Home operators who all provide essential services for all Oculus developments.

His approach which is effective and well received is to establish strategic partnerships and collaborate closely with the key stakeholders by forming working groups as early on in the process as possible with a shared purpose to deliver much needed cutting edge, next generation Specialist Supported Living, Extra Care and End of Life Nursing Home schemes of distinction which puts the residents front and centre, exceed expectations, re-defines industry standards and results in services being commissioned and delivered and developments being future proofed through thoughtful design and specification principals.

Since joining Oculus Simon has successfully built a national development pipeline across multiple user groups that exceeds 1000 units with a projected GDV in excess of £100M.