Succession planning brings Kent to Calthorpe
DEVELOPER Calthorpe Estates has appointed Roderick Kent as chairman elect and a trustee.
The Birmingham firm, best-known for developing its estate in Edgbaston, has made the move following Sir Charles Nicholson’s decision to step down as chairman and retire from the business in the summer.
Nicholson, formerly group senior advisor at BP, has held the position of chairman for more than 20 years and has guided the business successfully through a period of considerable change and improvement.
Kent has spent most of his career building up Close Brothers Group, where he was managing director from 1975 to 2002, then non-executive director and latterly chairman until 2008. For the last 15 years he has served as either a mon-executive director or chairman on a number of listed plc boards.
He is currently a non-executive director of Grosvenor Group, the holding company of Grosvenor’s worldwide property interests, and a non-executive director of Caledonia Investments.
One of the earliest tasks for Kent and his fellow trustees will be to appoint a successor to chief executive, Richard Allen, who reaches retirement age in April. Allen has announced his intention to stand down in July, after 16 years in his role.
