Global student housing specialist GSA has announced a raft of senior appointments in the wake of a significant growth in business, including the creation of country-level MDs for its EMEA business.
'GSA has a track record of accelerated growth and these appointments enable a new focus on scaling up our core European markets,' commented Nicholas Porter, executive chairman at GSA.
Tim Mitchell (pictured) has been promoted to global head of real estate. His 18 years of experience in the student accommodation business include the establishment of the Urbanest brand in London and the role of group property director for The Unite Group. He joined GSA at its inception.
James Granger, with 14 years experience in the student housing business, has been promoted to CEO of EMEA and joins the group board. Previously, Granger held various strategic, operational and finance leadership roles at The Unite Group and ran his own consultancy.
In continental Europe, Anne Braun has been appointed managing director for Germany, charged with creating 10,000 operational student beds in the country within five years to 2021. Christopher Holloway has been appointed managing director for Spain, after his most recent experience at The Student Housing Company.
Nick Richards has been appointed managing director for the UK and Ireland (UK&I) after moving to GSA six months ago to run its EMEA finance team. Richards was previously at The Unite Group for 16 years, most recently as group finance director.
GSA has grown rapidly to become the largest player in purpose built student accommodation (PBSA) on a European scale, with more than 20,000 operational, in-development and secured pipeline beds across a total of 25 European cities in Germany, Spain, the UK and Ireland.
'This is part of our long-term strategy to become a leader in PBSA across the world’s top higher education markets making a real difference to students’ lives by creating and operating welcoming communities in which the students of today and tomorrow can thrive,' concluded Porter.
