Great Places hires Onward executive as chief financial officer

Great Places has appointed current Onward executive Mike Gerrard as its new chief financial officer.

Manchester-based housing association Great Places announced Gerrard will join the 25,000-home landlord at in the new year. This will follow the retirement of current executive director of finance Phil Elvy.

Matthew Harrison, chief executive at Great Places said: “I am delighted to welcome Mike to Great Places.

“He brings a wealth of finance experience from comparable customer centric organisations. I’m certain that his expertise will be crucial in helping to drive forward Great Places to deliver our vision of creating great homes and communities.”

As reported yesterday Gerrard is leaving 35,000-home Onward after four years as executive finance director. He previously worked as group director of resources and finance at Barnet Group, a local authority trading company owned by Barnet Council. Onward has said it will begin recruitment of a successor shortly.

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Great Places last week reported that it increased its development activity in the year to March by 16% despite growing “delivery challenges”.

The 25,000-home organisation, in its 2022/23 financial statement said it built 649 homes in the 2022/23 financial year, up from 557 in 2021/22, but nevertheless failed to hit its development targets.

The organisation recently called off plans for a 34,000-home merger with Mosscare St Vincent citing an “increasingly challenging economic, operating and regulatory

He previously worked as group director of resources and finance director at Barnet Group, a local authority trading company owned by Barnet Council.

Onward has said it will shortly begin the recruitment process to appoint Gerrard’s successor.