Accent hires Habinteg boss as CEO

Accent has hired Nick Apetroaie as its new chief executive.

The 22,000-home association, which has its head office in Bradford, has announced Apetroaie will take up the role on 1 November. Apetroaie will join the organisation from his current role as chief executive of accessible housing specialist Habinteg.

Apetroaie succeeds Paul Dolan, who departed to take up the chief executive role at Riverside in May.

Apetroaie, who has led Habinteg since 2021, was previously deputy chief executive at G15 landlord Optivo and, before that, chief executive of Viridian. He is on the board of Guinness Care.

Accent said Apetroaie’s appointment is “posed to accelerate” the £115m-turnover association’s three-year corporate strategy.

Accent is aiming to increase its housebuilding to 600 homes a year by 2027, complete a strategic asset management review, formalise a plan to achieve an Energy Performance Certificate C rating across its stock and approve a 10-year asset management investment plan. The group completed 221 homes in 2022/23 and has a pipeline of 1,300.

An Accent spokesperson said Apetroaie helped Habinteg “transform its tenant engagement approach, built a strong customer centric culture, accelerated investment in current homes as well as restarting Habinteg’s development programme and increased Habinteg’s impact at local and national level on the accessibility and inclusivity agenda”

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Tom Miskell, chair of Accent Group, described Apetroaie as an “exemplary leader”.

He said: “In the role of CEO, Nick will be instrumental in steering the strategic direction of Accent through the implementation of our new corporate strategy, building on the strong legacy left behind by Paul.”