As co-founder of Green Resi, a platform unlocking institutional capital to retrofit underperforming homes, Anna’s mission is startlingly precise: “To bring ten thousand vacant and underperforming homes back into use by 2030.”

But scratch the surface, and the deeper aim becomes clear.

“Inequality of opportunity is the thing I care most about,” she says.

“For me, that’s about homes—and who gets to lead in delivering them.”

Why Inclusion Doesn’t Start with Capability

The prevailing narrative in tech and construction is that AI can “level the playing field” for women. But Anna’s take is refreshingly sceptical: “The real barriers aren’t capability,” she explains. “They’re structural.”

In her view, three deficits hold women back: access to influential sponsors, control over capital, and traditional markers of confidence.

“We reward a very narrow idea of leadership—typically alpha, typically male. And then wonder why women drop out of the pipeline.”

This isn’t a diversity plea. It’s a business critique. “Only 2% of real estate funds are managed by women,” she says. “That’s not just unfair—it’s inefficient. There’s clear data showing that diverse teams make better, more risk-aware decisions.”

The Power of Sponsorship (and the Pain of Its Absence)

Anna draws a crucial distinction between mentorship and sponsorship. Mentorship offers advice. Sponsorship opens doors. And the latter, she argues, is still vanishingly rare for women in property and finance.

“The most important predictor of career success isn’t performance. It’s having someone who advocates for you when you’re not in the room,” she says.

“And that’s often where women are missing out.”

Embedding sponsorship as a core responsibility of leadership, she argues, would shift not just who leads, but how.

“We need to reward people not just for individual performance, but for cultivating the next generation.”

AI Isn’t a Silver Bullet—But It Might Be a Lever

Despite her caution around tech hype, Anna sees real potential for AI to reshape housing investment. Green Resi uses software to rapidly assess upgrade costs and filter investment opportunities—tasks that would overwhelm human analysts.

“It’s about reliability,” she says.

“Institutional investors won’t back a £300,000 retrofit unless they trust the process that got them there. But aggregate that to £50 million or more, and now they’re interested.”

Still, she warns against overestimating tech’s role in inclusion. “AI won’t fix capital gaps or culture. But it can remove excuses.”

What It Really Takes to Lead Responsibly

Anna’s leadership isn’t loud or linear. It’s iterative, reflective—and deeply commercial. “People change when there’s pain,” she says bluntly.

“When they see competitors outperforming them, they start to care about inclusion.”

She’s clear that responsible leadership must be commercially savvy. “You need the moral case. But you really need the business case,” she insists. “That’s when things start to move.”

In a sector fixated on the new, Anna is betting on the overlooked: vacant homes, underrepresented talent, underestimated leaders. And she’s building the systems to bring them all into the fold.