Shipperley started his career in 1977 as an 18-year-old trainee negotiator at the Connells Aylesbury branch, before becoming branch manager at Connells High Wycombe, aged 21.
Under Shipperley’s stewadship, the High Wycombe branch became the most profitable branch in Connells for much of the 1980s. Shipperley duly rose through the ranks, becoming a director in 1988 and chief executive in 1990.
He has been Connells Group chairman since 2008.
During Shipperley’s tenure, Connells Group has gone from being a 20-branch regional estate agency to become the UK’s largest property services group, with more than 1,250 branches and 16,000 employees.
Connells was a founding shareholder of Rightmove in 2000 and acquired Sequence in 2003 to treble the size of the company at the time.
More recently, in March last year, Connells acquired Countrywide to double the group’s size.
‘His hunger for success has shaped Connells today’
Shipperley said: “I have been extraordinarily fortunate and lucky in my career. Firstly to join estate agency as a profession and, most importantly, to have joined Connells.
“The business has trained and developed me, given me opportunities and challenges, and enabled me to work with a wonderful team of talented and driven people who have made the business what it is today.
“Connells Group is blessed with a results-focused, dynamic culture where people are at the centre of everything we do; a true meritocracy.
“The business has been able to achieve the great things that it has because of the experience and strength in depth of the management within the business, and I am immensely proud to have been a part of that management team,” concludes Stephen.
David Livesey, Connells Group chief executive, added: “After such a long and successful career with us, Stephen will leave a lasting impact on the business. His appetite for innovation and hunger for success have shaped who we are today and we thank him for his years of service to Connells Group.”
