Amelia Beattie, chief operating officer of Old Mutual Investment Group Property Investments (OMIGPI), has been elected chairperson of the Women’s Property Network.

The winner of the 2008 WPN Five Star Woman Award, which recognises an exceptional woman within the commercial property sector, Amelia Beattie will succeed Ipeleng Mkhari as chairperson. Mkhari will continue to serve as the portfolio head of advocacy on the WPN national executive committee.

Beattie has served on WPN’s national executive and is a past councillor of the Western Cape branch of the SA Property Owners’ Association.  She joined Old Mutual in 1999. She assumed her current role as chief operating officer of Old Mutual Investment Group Property Investments (OMIGPI) in September 2007 and is a director of several companies associated with the organisation and the R28 billion property assets it manages.

She serves on the boards of the joint venture company in India where OMIGPI is providing management expertise and property development and management services. She is also a director of the public private partnership companies responsible for design, construction, finance, operation and maintenance of the head office of the Department of Education and the campus of the Department of International Relations and Co-operation based on the National Treasury’s standardised provisions for PPPs.

She is passionate about education of young women and sponsors three orphans in Old Mutual’s Adopt an Orphan programme.

She says that in her year in office she wants to build on the solid foundation that Mkhari set and ensure that WPN members gain access to opportunities to contribute to the industry and the empowerment of women through its Education Trust and Mentorship programme. The mentorship programme is sponsored by OMIGPI.