Grainger appoints John Kenny as COO

FTSE 250 residential landlord Grainger has appointed John Kenny as its chief operating officer.

Grainger said Kenny's appointment builds on the strength of the executive management team and supports the company's private rented sector growth strategy.

As part of this growth plan, the group is focused on further developing a customer-facing scalable operating platform as well as driving operational efficiency.

John, who is expected to start in late spring, has been COO of student housing provider Liberty Living since 2004. He was responsible for operating 60 different assets across 23 cities across the UK and Europe.

During his time at Liberty Living, he oversaw the merging of nine business units into a single brand with streamlined and integrated operations alongside developing a bespoke online customer portal. Prior to that, Kenny was COO at serviced office provider MWB Business Exchange.

Chief executive Helen Gordon said: "I am pleased to announce the appointment of John Kenny as Grainger's new chief operating officer. John will bring with him strong experience running large operational teams for customer focused, real estate businesses. His knowledge of delivering good customer service, while achieving efficiencies through streamlined operations and the use of technology, is perfectly aligned to our current focus and therefore makes him an ideal COO for Grainger. We look forward to John joining Grainger soon."