McCarthy Stone, the UK’s leading developer and manager of retirement communities, has announced that Jo Bennett has been appointed as its new Chief Financial Officer.
Jo was most recently Chief Business Officer at Pizza Express where she was responsible for Finance, Legal, IT, Property, the value creation plan, business transformation and the supply chain. Prior to this, Jo was Group CFO of Hilding Anders Group, a global bed and mattress manufacturer and retailer.
Jo possesses a strong financial background having spent time as a Director at KKR Capstone and at TPG Capital, where her remit was to drive value creation throughout the life of the investments. Jo originally trained as an accountant at EY and is a member of the ICAEW.
Jo’s firm focus will be on delivering McCarthy Stone’s growth, helping the Group take full advantage of improving market conditions to build and sell c.2,000 new apartments and bungalows a year, and operate its 530 open retirement communities, including its 120 housing with care schemes.
John Tonkiss, McCarthy Stone’s CEO, said:
“I am delighted that Jo is joining our team to help drive our growth, capitalising on our position as the UK’s leading developer and manager of retirement communities and our fast-growing market sector. Jo will help to further strengthen our robust balance sheet and manage our investment in our land and construction pipeline to meet the unprecedented demand for better housing and care in later life, as well as helping us to operate our existing retirement communities around the UK.”
Jo will join McCarthy Stone on 9 April and will sit on the Group’s Main Board and its Executive Committee.
McCarthy Stone is looking to buy 50 new sites a year and invest hundreds of millions of pounds in land and construction to open high quality retirement communities across the UK to meet the growing demand for housing, care and support options for those in later life.
