Helen Gordon, the global head of real estate asset management at Royal Bank of Scotland, has been appointed as chief executive of listed residential landlord Grainger.
Gordon will replace current Grainger chief executive Andrew Cunningham, who will retire at its next annual general meeting in February 2016.
She is expected to start at Grainger on 1 January next year.
Gordon, 56, has led RBS’s global real estate asset management business since October 2011. During this time she has built and led the team that has helped to deleverage RBS’s distressed real estate book.
Prior to joining RBS she was property director of Legal & General Investment Management’s £4.5bn Life Fund.
Her earlier career included six years at Railtrack and a stint as managing director of John Laing Developments and Property Ventures, where she led the UK’s first PFI building project, the development of Ashford International Station.
She is currently a board member of the New Covent Garden Market Authority, a trustee of the College of Estate Management and an advisory board member of Cambridge University Land Economy Department.
Grainger chairman Baroness Ford said: “As a recognised authority on the residential sector, Helen brings a unique blend of development, asset management and banking experience to the role. Over the next period, Grainger’s focus is on simplification of our business and accelerated execution of our PRS strategy.”
Gordon, added: “Grainger is a fantastic business, with a unique portfolio and a distinctive heritage, operating in the sector that forms the bedrock of the real estate sector – people’s homes. With its robust balance sheet and deep pool of talent, I am really excited to have taken this role and look forward to leading the business into the future.”
