PropertyGuru Hires New Chief People Officer, Helen Snowball

The Southeast Asian real estate portal operator PropertyGuru Group, has announced the appointment of Helen Snowball as the firm's next Chief People Officer (CPO).

Snowball will lead the People & Culture team with a special focus on employee experience and talent management, reporting to Group CEO Hari V. Krishnan as part of the leadership team.

She leaves commercial real estate specialist Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL) in Singapore after five and half years in the company, with her most recent role as Global Head of People Solutions and Experience.

Snowball (pictured below) said:

“I am thrilled to join PropertyGuru Group. My focus will be to foster the amazing culture the organisation has built and enable employees to bring their best selves to work, each day. I look forward to working with the diverse and highly skilled Gurus across Southeast Asia to strengthen PropertyGuru’s position as an employer of choice for top talent.”

Group CEO Hari V. Krishnan said,

“We are excited to have Helen join us as our Chief People Officer. She has solid experience in leading successful transformations within People and Culture organisations and driving digital employee experiences. We are in PG3 – the third phase of our evolution as an organisation – guided by our vision to power communities to live, work and thrive in tomorrow’s cities. Helen’s skillset and energy will be essential as we continue to invest in our talent.”

Snowball's appointment is another string to PropertyGuru's leadership bow, coming hot on the heels of the promotion of Manav Kamboj to Managing Director of PropertyGuru Fintech in March and Disha Goenka Das's appointment as CMO in January.

PropertyGuru Group is one of the most interesting portal operators in the world at the moment. It went public last March and hasn't stayed out of the press for long since its flotation.

The Group's string of high-profile appointments matches strategic manoeuvres including the acquisition of home services provider Sendhelper which will allow the Group to offer at-home services including cleaning and renovations on top of its traditional marketplace.

Meanwhile, the launch of B2B arm PropertyGuru for Business matches moves by Zillow in the US and OnTheMarket in the UK to create umbrella brands. The Group recently teamed up with Knight Frank Malaysia to offer a bespoke property appraisal solution powered by PropertyGuru for Business technology.

The Group continues to be a loss-making business after net losses of S$5M in its FY22 results, but overall losses masked revenue increases of 17% last year and dominant market shares in Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam and Thailand.