Notting Hill Genesis hires NHS Property Services executive as chief financial officer

Notting Hill Genesis has appointed Mark Smith as its new chief financial officer (CFO)

The 66,000-home association announced Smith will take up the role in April.

Smith joins NHG from NHS Property Services, which manages 2,700 NHS buildings, where he had served as CFO since April 2019. Smith also previously worked at BT in a variety of finance-related roles over a nine-year period.

Smith takes over from Susan Hickey, who had been drafted in on an interim basis following the departure of Yomi Okunola after less than two years in the role.

Patrick Franco, chief executive of NHG, said: “In a field of strong candidates, Mark stood out as the best. There’s no doubt that we are operating in an increasingly challenging environment, so Mark’s leadership experience across many financial disciplines will be invaluable.”

NHG in September announced a plan to spend nearly half a billion pounds (£497.4m) in improving existing stock over the next decade.

It described its plan to build new homes as “constrained” but said it will still build more than 1,000 homes in 2023/24 as part of a target to build 5,000 by 2028.

NHG last month reported a steep drop in sales income as its surplus for the first half of the year fell by nearly 80%.