Team Leaders

The key Senior Executives responsible for the day-to-day operations of the Group are:

John Sunley

Educated at Harrow and Columbia University, John served with the Royal Marines before commencing in the property world in 1960. John has chaired the Sunley Holdings Group of companies since 1979. He is also Chairman of the Trustees of the Bernard Sunley Charitable Foundation and trustee of a number of other charities. John is married with six children and his hobbies include golf (where he has a dangerous handicap!), horse breeding and racing.

James Sunley

A product of Oxford and Reading Universities, Chief Executive James Sunley trained as a general practice surveyor specialising in out of town retailing. During the late eighties he spent 3 years working on a 7,000 acre suburban development in the USA before joining the UK property business.

With a keen interest in good design and functionality, James strongly believes an eye for aesthetic detail together with comprehensive preplanning are the cornerstones of good development (his colour blindness explains much!). He is also a champion of the sustainability agenda and stakeholder participation.

James has a son Casper and two daughters Jemima and Phoebe. An active wine consumer, James’ hobbies include most ball and field sports; he is also the Cresta Run record holder.

Rory Gleeson

Director of Sunley Holdings Plc and Sunley Estates Plc with particular responsibility for overseeing all development activities, Rory joined the Sunley group in 1998.

He previously spent 13 years working in Main Contracting for Mowlem and Ellmer Construction. Rory's development expertise runs across the breadth  of residential development to overseeing the creation of a new hospital facility and to the delivery of sports stadia.

Married to Roisin, with 2 sons, Darragh and Jarlath. Rory's sporting activities are now becoming curtailed, as he prepares himself to watch his sons compete in the 2020 Rugby World Cup.

Richard Evans

After obtaining a first class Land Management degree specialising in Planning & Development from Reading University in 1991, Richard spent four years with Ideal Homes, during which time he qualified as a Chartered Surveyor.

Prior to joining Sunley in 2002 he spent over six years in the Prowting Group, becoming the Land & Planning Director at Prowting Homes West in Swindon, with whom he helped to establish a new region. He has experience of acquiring a whole range of residential development sites including land for brownfield redevelopment and for high value waterside apartments.

When not battling against the vagaries of the land market, Richard enjoys most forms of keeping fit and despite originating from Bristol has a keen interest in both football and cricket.