McCarthy Stone, a developer and manager of retirement communities, has appointed Jo Bennett as chief financial officer.

Bennett was most recently chief business officer at Pizza Express responsible for finance, legal, IT, property, the value creation plan, business transformation and the supply chain. Before that, Bennett was group chief financial officer of Hilding Anders Group, a global bed and mattress manufacturer and retailer. Bennett also worked as a director at KKR Capstone and at TPG Capital and originally trained as an accountant at EY.

McCarthy Stone’s chief executive John Tonkiss 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.”

McCarthy Stone stated it wants to buy 50 new sites a year and invest hundreds of millions of pounds in land and construction to open retirement communities across the UK.

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