Hammerson announces new chief executive

Property firm Hammerson, which owns the Victoria Gate Shopping Centre in Leeds, 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.

She 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, chairman 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.”