Hammerson appoints Rita-Rose Gagné as Chief Executive Officer

Ms Gagné was most recently President of Growth Markets at the global real estate company Ivanhoé Cambridge where she had responsibility for $7.6bn of real estate assets across Asia Pacific and Latin America.

She 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, Rita-Rose was tasked with developing, leading and executing the investment strategy in Asia and Latin America, prior to being made President of Growth Markets.

Ms Gagné 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 Ms Gagné joins the Company.

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. 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.”

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.”