Steven Henderson is to be the new chief executive of Wheatley Group.
Currently the group director of finance, he will take over from Martin Armstrong, who announced last year he had decided to step down after more than 11 years at the helm, plus two and a half years as the boss of Glasgow Housing Association (now Wheatley Homes Glasgow).
Group chair Jo Armstrong said Henderson was “the outstanding candidate” and someone who would “consolidate and build on the group’s position as a national force for good”.
He joined Wheatley in 2013 from the European Investment Bank in Luxembourg, responsible for the investment of £250m of EU Structural Funds, as well as lending activity for the bank in the UK social housing, regeneration, climate change and sustainability sectors.
A chartered accountant, Henderson had previously held a senior position with EY and had worked also for PwC.
During his time at Wheatley, the group has raised more than £1.2bn of private and public investment, which has funded investment in existing homes and one of the UK’s most ambitious house-building programmes. In four of the past five years, Wheatley has been the UK’s largest builder of social-rented homes.
Armstrong said: “We undertook a rigorous recruitment and interview process, attracting a strong range of high-calibre applicants from across the UK.
“Steven’s extensive experience in the sectors in which we operate, along with a proven track record and exceptional leadership skills, marked him out as the outstanding candidate.”
She added: “I would like also to pay tribute to Martin for his inspirational leadership over the past decade and beyond - he was the pivotal force in the creation of Wheatley, which has gone on to become the fourth largest housing group in the UK, owning and managing more than 93,500 homes.”
Henderson said: “Martin will be a hard act to follow as his reputation as a superb public sector leader has been forged not just in Scotland, but across Europe.
“I am confident the foundations that have been laid, and with the support of team Wheatley and board members, we will continue to live up to our mission of ‘making homes and lives better’ for the people we support across central and southern Scotland.”
Wheatley operates across 19 local authority areas and has 2,700 employees, with an annual turnover of more than £388m.
It provides care and support services to around 3,500 people, is one of Scotland’s largest property managers and in Lowther Homes has the country’s largest private-rent company.
It is joint owner, with Glasgow City Council, of City Building (Glasgow), which employs more than 2,000 people and provides repairs and maintenance services to the Group in the west of Scotland.
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