Chief Executive Julian Cook (pictured above) has announced he will retire from his role in March 2021 after seven years – and a new CEO has already been appointed.
Current Deputy Chief Executive and Chief Financial Officer Scott Scoullar (pictured right) has been announced as the incoming Chief Executive.
Mr Cook started at Summerset in 2010, and said now was the right time to hand New Zealand’s second-largest village operator over for the next phase of growth in New Zealand and Australia.
“Market capitalisation has increased from $300 million at the time of our 2011 Initial Public Offering to $2.4 billion,” he stated.
“Assets have increased from $540 million to $3.4 billion; we have over 5,700 residents, up from 1,700, and the largest growth pipeline in the New Zealand retirement village sector… We are expecting our first delivery of units in Australia next year and Summerset has an exciting future ahead.”
Mr Cook will be replaced by Mr Scoullar, who started with Summerset in 2014 as Chief Financial Officer, following senior roles at Housing New Zealand and Inland Revenue.
He has served as Deputy Chief Executive since the start of 2018, and says he will be looking to continue to evolve Summerset’s service offering.
“Summerset is well positioned to grow in New Zealand, with enough land banked to allow us to double in size. Our expansion into Australia in 2021 is an exciting direction for a Kiwi-born company.”
Mr Scoullar will start as Chief Executive in late March 2021.
Summerset has 31 villages across New Zealand with 11 more in development, including two in Victoria, Australia. Once completed, these will bring its number of villages to 42.
