Vistry Names Severn Trent's Helen Miles as Its New CFO
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Vistry Group has appointed Helen Miles, chief financial officer of the FTSE 100 water company Severn Trent, as its new CFO and an executive director. The company said on 27 October that she is expected to take up the role and join the board during 2027.
Until she arrives, Robert Allen becomes interim CFO. He joins the Vistry board with immediate effect and stays in the role pending Miles's arrival.
Who Miles is
Miles joined Severn Trent in November 2014 as chief commercial officer. In 2020 she became its capital and commercial services director, and in July 2023 she was appointed CFO. Before that she was CFO of HomeServe and of Openreach, part of the BT Group. Earlier jobs include roles at Bass Taverns, Barclays Bank and Compass Group. She also sits on the board of Breedon Group as a non-executive director.
Vistry said the appointment followed an internal and external selection process led by the chair.
Chair Rob Woodward called Miles "a high calibre finance and business executive" and said he is confident she will work with the board, chief executive Adam Daniels and the leadership team to maximise the strengths of the group's mixed tenure partnership model. Daniels said he looked forward to working with her and had enjoyed getting to know her during the recruitment process.
Miles said she is joining Vistry as it enters the next stage of its development. She described the company's focus as strong operational performance and high quality homes across all tenures.
The interim appointment
Allen was most recently CFO of The Crown Estate, a post he held for four years. Before that he was CFO at Intu Properties and at Crest Nicholson. Vistry describes him as experienced in strategic transformation, capital markets, investor relations and commercial leadership across property and real estate businesses.
Under UK listing rules, the company also disclosed that Allen was an executive director of Intu Properties, Intu Shopping Centres and Liberty International Group Treasury, all of which entered administration on 26 June 2020. He was also a director of Intu Payments, which went into creditors' voluntary liquidation on 26 October 2021.