CAREER STORY

Lauren has had two careers spanning 25 years. Her first career taught her what motivates big companies to invest in the UK. Her second career taught her how to grow a business and understand how decisions of the government can impact businesses, employees and stakeholders.

In her first career Lauren worked for leading IT companies; IBM UK where she led an international division of IBM plc, held a transatlantic financial services role at Hewlett Packard and ran Application sales, for small and medium size businesses, at Oracle Corp.

Lauren became known for leading change and consistently transforming underperforming teams. She quickly learned that if you believe in people, they will believe in themselves.

While at IBM Lauren set up their Global Life Sciences team and instigated a pioneering investment project between RLX Technologies in Texas and The Sanger Centre, Wellcome Trust, for investment in the IBM DNA sequencing for the Human Genome Project. This made the largest single contribution to the gold standard sequence of the human genome and brought millions of pounds of revenue to the UK.

In her second career Lauren took what she had learned and used it to grow her business www.malinsgroup.co.uk to a rental portfolio of circa 750 units across the UK. Lauren and her team have spent the past 15 years investing in new affordable and private homes, student housing, commercial spaces and regenerating high streets. Lauren has a deep understanding of the housing crisis, experience of how to make highstreets vibrant again and the benefits of creating closer bonds between the public and private sector.

There is nothing more satisfying than improving the financial stability of a local community. The Malins Group has regenerated several tertiary shopping areas in Hampshire, Berkshire and Surrey, bringing vibrancy back to highstreets, fully supported by the community and councillors.

Lauren is a proud regenerator of underutilised buildings and brown field sites. She is staunchly protective of the greenbelt.

Transferable skills from my career

  • Resilience – My business background and inherent determination.

  • Conviction – I firmly believe in what I am trying to achieve. 

  • Leadership – I take my entire extended team on that journey with me.

  • Listening – I have spent my career doing this, more than talking.

  • Problem solving – Deep experience on finding solutions.

  • Judgement – 25 years business experience enables me to make good decisions.

  • Communication – Skilled communicator across all levels.

  • Ability to relate – I can understand a variety of positions.

  • Emotional intelligence – Adept at reading people’s emotions and acting upon it.

  • Passion – I am enthusiastic in all areas of my life, which I seize with both hands.

  • Diversity and Inclusion – Variety breeds success in my teams.

  • Community minded – This has been essential to my success.

  • Humility – I do not feel entitled, which gives me the motivation to serve.