UK REIT Hammerson has announced the appointment of Rita-Rose Gagné as new Chief Executive Officer, replacing David Atkins before the end of the year.
Gagné was most recently president of growth markets at the global real estate company Ivanhoé Cambridge where she had responsibility for $7.6 bn of real estate assets across Asia Pacific and Latin America. Her expertise spans across various asset classes and mixed-use assets, including residential, retail, office and logistics, marking a change from her predecessor Atkins who was mostly a retail specialist having led first the UK retail parks portfolio and, in 2006, the company’s wider UK retail portfolio.
Gagné joined Ivanhoé Cambridge in 2006 and held a variety of roles from senior vice president, legal affairs and general counsel at Société immobilière Trans-Québec (SITQ) to executive vice president of Global Strategy, Portfolio Management and Investment Funds at Ivanhoé Cambridge. As executive vice president, she was tasked with developing, leading and executing the investment strategy in Asia and Latin America. She is also a lawyer.
Robert Noel, Hammerson, Chair 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.’
Rita-Rose 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.’
Hammerson first announced in May that chief executive David Atkins was to step down after over 10 years at the helm of the UK retail property firm.
