Our Leadership Team

  • Baroness Ford OBE

    Non-Executive Chairman

    Appointed September 2017

     

    Committees

    Member of Nomination Committee (Chair)

    Member of Remuneration Committee

     

    Key Skills and Experience

    Baroness Ford has over 20 years’ experience as a Non-Executive Director and Chairman of private and Stock Exchange listed companies and extensive experience of working with the Government. Margaret also has extensive knowledge across the real estate market and is an Honorary Member of the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors. From 2002 to 2008, she was Chairman of English Partnerships (now Homes England) and from 2009 to 2012, she was a member of the Olympic Board and Chairman of the Olympic Park Legacy Company. Margaret was previously a Non-Executive Director of Taylor Wimpey plc and SEGRO plc, and the former Chairman of STV Group plc, Grainger plc and May Gurney Integrated Services plc.

     

    External Appointments

     

    Listed Companies

    Lendlease Corporation (Senior Advisor to the Board)

    Other

    Chairman of Challenge Board; Buckingham Palace Reservicing Programme; National President of the British Epilepsy Association; Trustee, British Olympic Association; Director, Deloitte UK LLP and Chair of the UK Audit Governance Board; Director, North/South Europe Board;Member of the Global Advisory Board for Deloitte.

    Baroness Ford was appointed to the House of Lords in 2006 and is a Cross bench peer.

  • Allan Lockhart

    Chief Executive Officer

    Key Skills and Experience

    Allan has over 35 years’ experience in the UK retail real estate market. He started his career with Strutt & Parker in 1988 advising major property companies and institutions on retail leasing, investment and development. In 2002, Allan was appointed as Retail Director to Halladale Plc with a remit to acquire value add opportunities In the UK retail real estate market and ensure the successful implementation of asset management strategies. Following the successful sale of Halladale Plc in early 2007, Allan co-founded NewRiver and served as Property Director since its IPO until being appointed Chief Executive Officer in May 2018.

     

    External Appointments

    Chair of the British Property Federation (BPF) Retail Board

  • alastair miller photo

    Will Hobman

    Chief Financial Officer

    Appointed August 2021

     

    Key Skills and Experience

    Will is a Chartered Accountant with over ten years’ Real Estate experience, having qualified at BDO LLP working in its Audit and Corporate Finance departments. Before joining NewRiver in June 2016, Will worked at British Land for five years in a variety of finance roles, latterly in Investor Relations, and formerly within the Financial Reporting and Financial Planning & Analysis teams. Will obtained a BArch (Hons) in Architecture from Nottingham University before obtaining his ACA qualification, becoming an FCA in March 2020.

     

    External Appointments

    British Property Federation Finance Committee Member

  • charlie parker photo

    Alastair Miller

    Senior Independent Director

    Appointed January 2016

     

    Committees

    Member of Audit Committee

    Member of Nomination Committee

    Member of Remuneration Committee (Chair)

     

    Key Skills and Experience

    Alastair is a Chartered Accountant and has significant, recent and relevant financial experience. Throughout his career Alastair has developed skills over risk management, property, systems, company secretariat and investor relations. Having worked for New Look Group for 14 years, Alastair has an in-depth understanding of retailers and the factors that impact their trading and profitability. Alastair was formerly Chief Financial Officer of New Look Group, Group Finance Director of the RAC and Finance Director of a company within the BTR Group. In addition to being the Senior Independent Director Alastair has responsibility for ensuring that the Board successfully engages with our workforce.

     

    External Appointments

    Listed Companies

    Superdry Plc (Director and Auditco Chair)

    Other

    RNLI (Risk and Audit committee member & Council Member)

  • Karen Miller photo

    Charlie Parker

    Independent Non-Executive Director

    Appointed September 2020

     

    Committees

    Member of Audit Committee

    Member of Nomination Committee

    Member of Remuneration Committee

     

    Key skills and Experience

    Charlie Parker was previously Chief Executive and Head of the Public Service for the Government of Jersey from January 2018 until his retirement in March 2021. Prior to working in Jersey, Charlie was Chief Executive of Westminster City Council from December 2013 to December 2017 and Chief Executive of Oldham Metropolitan Borough Council from October 2008 to December 2013. During his various roles as a Chief Executive, Charlie oversaw the significant transformation and modernisation of a large number of public services often resulting in reduced costs and improved performance. He was also responsible for a range of large scale capital infrastructure and regeneration projects in Jersey, Westminsterand Oldham. Prior to 2008 he held a number of investment, development and regeneration roles across national and local government bodies for over twenty years.

     

    External Appointments

    Other

    Buckingham Palace Reservicing Programme Challenge Board, Griffin Investments Ltd

     

     

  • colin rutherford

    Dr Karen Miller

    Independent Non-Executive Director

    Appointed May 2022

     

    Committees

    Member of Audit Committee

    Member of Nomination Committee

    Member of Remuneration Committee

     

    Key Skills and Experience

    Dr Karen Miller is affiliated to the Department of Engineering, Cambridge University and is Co-Director of the Cambridge Sustainability Programme. Karen is a sustainability expert with a proven track record of leading transformation through a collaborative applied approach in large national and international companies. Karen has over twenty-five years’ experience of growing businesses in the retail sector through innovation.

     

    External Appointments

    Listed Companies

    None

    Other

    Buckingham Palace Reservicing Programme Challenge Board Co Director, Cambridge Sustainability Programme Leader of European Institute for Innovation and Technology (EIT) Food Programmes

  • colin rutherford

    Colin Rutherford

    Independent Non-Executive Director

    Appointed February 2019

     

    Committees

    Member of Audit Committee (Chair)

    Member of Nomination Committee

    Member of Remuneration Committee

     

    Key Skills and Experience

    Colin is an experienced public and private company chairman and independent director, with relevant sector experience including asset management, bioscience, leisure and real estate. Colin graduated in accountancy and finance and qualified with Touche Ross (now Deloitte) in 1984 and is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland.

     

    External Appointments

    Public Companies

    Evofem Biosciences Inc (Independent Director and Audit Committee Chairman)

    Private Companies

    Allstone Sand Gravels & Aggregates Limited (Chairman); Brookgate Limited (Chairman); Donaldson Group Limited (Independent Director and Audit Committee Chairman); Rothley Group Limited (Chairman)

  • Allan Lockhart

    Chief Executive Officer

    Key Skills and Experience

    Allan has over 30 years’ experience in the UK retail real estate market. He started his career with Strutt & Parker in 1988 advising major property companies and institutions on retail leasing, investment and development. In 2002, Allan was appointed as Retail Director to Halladale Plc with a remit to acquire value add opportunities In the UK retail real estate market and ensure the successful implementation of asset management strategies. Following the successful sale of Halladale Plc In early 2007, Allan co-founded NewRiver and served as Property Director since its IPO until being appointed Chief Executive Officer in May 2018.

     

    External Appointments

    Chair of the British Property Federation (BPF) Retail Board

  • alastair miller photo

    Will Hobman

    Chief Financial Officer

    Appointed August 2021

     

    Key Skills and Experience

    Will is a Chartered Accountant with over ten years’ Real Estate experience, having qualified at BDO LLP working in its Audit and Corporate Finance departments. Before joining NewRiver in June 2016, Will worked at British Land for five years in a variety of finance roles, latterly in Investor Relations, and formerly within the Financial Reporting and Financial Planning & Analysis teams. Will obtained a BArch (Hons) in Architecture from Nottingham University before obtaining his ACA qualification, becoming an FCA in March 2020.

     

    External Appointments

    British Property Federation Finance Committee Member

  • Emma McKenzie photo

    Emma Mackenzie

    Head of Asset Management & ESG

    Member of the Executive Committee and Head of Asset Management, Emma has overarching responsibility for the financial and operational performance of the retail portfolio throughout the UK. Emma’s responsibilities also include oversight of NewRiver’s property management, rent collection and the Company’s Environmental, Social and Governance programme. 

     

    Emma is a qualified chartered surveyor with over 20 years’ experience in the retail property market. 

     

    Launched in June 2020, Emma is one of nine Board Members on the Government’s High Street Task Force, following her role on the Govt’s High Streets Expert Panel and chaired by Sir John Timpson in 2019. The HSTF provides access to experts, case studies and practical solutions to local town leaders and Government to help support and revitalise UK high streets and town centres.

     

    Emma also sits on the Commercial Committee of the British Property Federation. 

  • lockhart color pic

    Charles Spooner

    Head of Capital Markets

    Member of the Executive Committee and responsible for Capital Markets and Retail Parks throughout the UK. Charles has over 20 years experience in the real estate investment and asset management sector.

     

    Charles has benefited from the broad experience as an asset manager at F&C REIT and RREEF, on an advisory capacity at Cushman Wakefield and as a retailer advising Specsavers on their investment agency and development activity. Charles is responsible for acquisitions, disposals, development and implementation of asset management strategies, with particular focus on the retail warehouse sector.

  • edith monfries photo

    Edith Monfries

    Chief Operating and People Officer

    Edith is a Chartered Accountant having trained with Deloitte, Haskins and Sells. She has over 30 years experience  in the retail and leisure property sector, combining Finance, Operational and HR roles, specialising in advising on strategic and operational matters.

     

    Edith was appointed Head of HR at NewRiver in October 2018 and now in her role as COO brings her expertise in talent development within the sector to the business. She served as COO of Hawthorn when the pub company was under NewRiver’s ownership and oversaw the smooth transition following sale. Edith previously held the role of president of the Scottish Beer and Pub Association (SBPA) when NewRiver owned a pub portfolio. 

Related Links

Our Strategy and Purpose

Our People and Culture

Our use of cookies

We use necessary cookies to make our site work. We’d also like to set optional analytics cookies to help us improve it. We won’t set optional cookies unless you enable them. Using this tool will set a cookie on your device to remember your preferences.

For more detailed information about the cookies we use, see our Cookie policy


Analytics cookies

We’d like to set Google Analytics cookies to help us to improve our website by collecting and reporting information on how you use it. The cookies collect information in a way that does not directly identify anyone.

: