Non-Executive Chairman of Westmount Real Estate, Martin is coming to the role after more than 25 years experience of finance and of commercial property as occupier, developer and investor. Whilst at Kingfisher Plc, Martin held a number of senior positions including Director of Corporate Development and Managing Director of Chartwell Land (Kingfisher’s property company). Expansion of the B&Q and Comet businesses brought Martin familiarity of all the issues facing retail tenants, while a period as Chief Financial Officer of Holiday Inn Worldwide gave responsibility for real estate in a customer-facing sector outside retail. Martin’s tenure of the role of Finance Director of the Kingfisher pan-European electrical retailing division, demerged in 2003 as Kesa Electricals plc (now Darty plc) saw exposure to the varieties of retail property ownership and occupational structures across mainland Europe. In 2005, Martin was elected First Bursar of King’s College, Cambridge and became both the hands-on landlord of an extensive, largely high street retail, property portfolio and property investor through equity and fund holdings. At this time, Martin was also Senior Independent Director of Photo-Me International plc, a non-executive director of Matalan plc and non-executive Chairman of Site Confidence Ltd, a technology start-up. Martin graduated from the University of Cambridge and is a fellow of Robinson College.
