Hammerson announces new chief executive

Property firm Hammerson, which owns shopping centres including the Bullring and Grand Central in Birmingham and Highcross in Leicester, has announced the appointment of Rita-Rose Gagné as chief executive and executive director.

Gagné was most recently president of growth markets at Montreal-based global real estate company Ivanhoé Cambridge where she had responsibility for $7.6bn of real estate assets across Asia Pacific and Latin America.

Gagné is also a lawyer and holds an MBA from McGill-HEC Montreal. During her career, she has worked in property markets across the world, including the UK, France and Germany, and her expertise spans across various asset classes and mixed-use assets, including residential, retail, office and logistics.

It is anticipated that she will take up her new role with Hammerson before the end of the year.

David Atkins will continue to serve as CEO until Gagné joins the company.

Robert Noel, Hammerson, chair of the board, said: “I am delighted that Rita-Rose will join Hammerson as our next CEO.  She has an excellent track record in international real estate investment, building high-quality teams, developing strategic partnerships, execution and delivering results. On behalf of the Board, and all colleagues in the business, I look forward to welcoming Rita-Rose to Hammerson and working with her when she joins.”

Gagné, added: “The retail and real estate sectors are going through a period of  unprecedented change which makes this a very exciting time to be joining the business. I look forward to working with Hammerson’s experienced team and all its stakeholders to both navigate through the challenges but also seek out the opportunities to create value moving forward .”

Meanwhile, rival Landsec Group announced this morning that its chief financial officer Martin Greenslade intends to step down from his role during 2021.

He will continue as CFO and as an executive director on the board until his successor is appointed.

He said: “I joined Landsec in 2005 as CFO and have thoroughly enjoyed my time at the company.  It has been a privilege to lead and work with talented and dedicated individuals throughout the organisation for so long. I have enjoyed working with Mark since he joined in April and I support his vision for Landsec. However, I feel that now is the right time for me to step aside and let someone else take my role to help deliver the next phase of Landsec’s journey.”

Mark Allan, CEO, said: “Martin’s experience through the global financial crisis and his subsequent work to put the group on a firmer financial footing, at the same time as reshaping the business, has clearly been beneficial in the face of the current Covid threat. I have appreciated his counsel and advice since I joined in April and I speak on behalf of the board when I thank him for his commitment to Landsec as a director over the past 15 years. I wish him well for the future.”

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