Our Team
Chris Cowan
Chief Financial Officer
Chris Cowan is a seasoned property development and asset management executive with extensive experience in capital structuring, financial governance, and large-scale project delivery.
Chris served as Chief Financial Officer of Samma from 2022 to December 2025 and continues to provide strategic advisory support from January 2026. During his tenure, he strengthened the Group’s funding and financial frameworks and led the origination and negotiation of Samma’s Fund-Through development of 435 affordable housing dwellings for Assemble enabling the first third-party developer partnership undertaken by Assemble Homes.
Chris brings disciplined financial oversight, commercial rigour, and strategic insight to support Samma’s continued growth and long-term value creation.
David Brewin
Head of Capital
David is a senior executive with 30 years’ experience in the real estate sector spanning capital markets, funds management, property development, leasing and asset management. Through roles at Mirvac, Westfield, Dexus and Grocon, David has developed strong analytical, financial, transactional, strategic and relationship skills. Prior to Samma, David spent 7 years as General Manager, Funds Management overseeing Home’s $2 billion build-to-rent portfolio where he was also on the senior leadership team and investment committee. David is also a qualified real estate agent (sales and leasing) and auctioneer.
Grant Packman
Senior Development Manager
Grant Packman is a Senior Development Manager at Samma Property Group, a position he has held since July 2016. With more than 35 years of experience in the property and construction industry, he has developed extensive expertise across acquisitions, feasibilities, design management, stakeholder engagement, project and program management, and full development delivery.
Originally trained as an architect, Grant holds a Bachelor of Architecture from the University of KwaZulu-Natal and is a Registered Architect with the Architects Registration Board of Victoria. Throughout his career, he has led multidisciplinary teams in the delivery of large-scale residential apartment and townhouse developments, managing projects from site acquisition and planning approvals through to construction, settlement and post-completion management.
Paul Barmby
Senior Project Manager
Paul Barmby has worked in the commercial construction industry in Melbourne and Sydney since 1987 and has been involved in major CBD and inner city projects in the apartment, commercial office, retail and health sectors. Before joining Samma Group, Paul worked in a Construction Director role for developers Fridcorp and Gurner in a client side role since 2008. Prior to this, Paul worked in direct construction for Mirvac where he was the Victorian Construction Operations Manager.
Our Story
ENGINEERING TO BUILDING
Our founder, Sam Abdelmalak, wasn’t always a builder. After nearly 30 years working as an engineer, he discovered his true passion quite by chance. Building a new home for his family became, in his own words, “a masterpiece” and it lit a spark that would shape the future of his career.
During the recession of the 1990s, Sam found himself out of work and unable to secure new opportunities. Determined to keep moving forward, he made the difficult decision to sell his cherished family home to fund a new venture into home construction.
Sam’s deep technical background and meticulous attention to detail quickly set a new benchmark for quality in residential building. As demand for his homes grew, his eldest son, Simon, joined the business. Together they expanded their capabilities and reputation driven by a shared commitment to superior design, craftsmanship, and customer focus.
Over time, Sam’s sons brought additional expertise to the business. Between them, they built strong foundations in development, planning, sales, technology, and operations ensuring Samma’s growth was backed by both experience and innovation.
Today, Samma is led by this family-inspired vision, supported by a highly experienced executive team across Planning, Land Acquisition, Design, Construction, Sales, Finance, Law, and Corporate Governance. This collective leadership continues Samma’s tradition of creating places that enhance the way people live in the city of tomorrow.
Simon
BA – University of Melbourne
Simon joined his father while completing a BA in Property and Construction at Melbourne University and subsequently took over the management of the business. He has overseen the dramatic growth of Samma with a focus on Development, Acquisition, Finance and Sales. His aim is to manage the steady, sustainable growth of Samma through the decades to come.
Samir
Founder – Samma Property Group
Sam migrated from Egypt to Melbourne in 1969 and founded the Samma Property Group in 1995, building one of Melbourne’s most successful and respected property development companies in a single generation.
The company’s dramatic growth was driven by Sam’s work ethic, integrity and personal values underpinned by a strong foundation in Christianity.
Sam is passionate about giving back to the less fortunate. Via the Samma Foundation, the business supports those in need in Australia and throughout the world.
Daniel
BA – RMIT University
Daniel is a licensed real estate agent and has a BA in Business Information Systems from RMIT, bringing a broad range of advanced skills to help manage Samma’s technology, administration, people and culture. He keeps Samma up to date with the rapidly evolving technology emerging in every part of the property industry.
EARLY PROJECTS
We are thankful for our humble beginnings. Which led us to know the smell of freshly cut timber, newly laid concrete in the morning and the detail required to produce a craftsman built home. Today we are still proud of the works we completed in those early days. These are just a few examples, from townhouses, apartments to large residences in Canterbury.
