Vistry Group (VTY), which builds homes across all tenures, has named Severn Trent finance chief Helen Miles as its next chief financial officer and executive director. She is due to join the board in 2027.
Until she arrives, Robert Allen becomes interim CFO and joins the board with immediate effect. Vistry said the appointment followed a comprehensive internal and external selection process led by the Chair.
Miles is currently CFO of Severn Trent, the FTSE 100 water company, a post she has held since July 2023. She joined Severn Trent in November 2014 as Chief Commercial Officer and became Capital and Commercial Services Director in 2020.
Earlier she was CFO of HomeServe and of Openreach, part of BT Group, with previous roles at Bass Taverns, Barclays Bank and Compass Group. Vistry points to her record across listed-company finance, strategy, capital markets, investor relations, treasury and operational leadership. She also sits as a non-executive director of Breedon Group.
Rob Woodward, Vistry’s Non-Executive Chair, tied the choice to the group’s strategy:
“Helen is a high calibre finance and business executive who I am confident will work with the Board, Adam and the rest of the leadership team to maximise the strengths and opportunities of the Group’s mixed tenure partnership model.”
Rob Woodward, Non-Executive Chair, Vistry
Adam Daniels, Vistry’s CEO, said her appointment “further strengthens the quality of our executive leadership” and that the shared focus would be on delivering “our recently announced plans”. Miles said she was excited to join “as it enters the next stage of its development”.
Allen was most recently CFO of The Crown Estate for four years, and before that CFO at Intu Properties and Crest Nicholson. Vistry cites his expertise in strategic transformation, capital markets, investor relations and commercial leadership across property and real estate.
Under UK listing rules, Vistry also disclosed that Allen was an executive director of Intu Properties, Intu Shopping Centres and Liberty International Group Treasury Limited, each of which entered administration on the 26th of June 2020. He was also a director of Intu Payments Limited, which entered creditors’ voluntary liquidation on the 26th of October 2021.