Stonewater chief financial officer departs ‘with immediate effect’

Anne Costain has left her role as chief financial officer of Stonewater with “immediate effect”, the £300m-turnover housing association has announced.

Stonewater, which manages 40,000 homes across 134 local authority areas, announced the departure this morning. The organisation declined to comment on the reasons for Costain’s departure. Costain had been CFO for more than four years.

Stonewater also announced it has appointed Francesco Elia as interim chief financial officer. Elia runs his own consultancy business and has served as interim in senior executive roles for 13 different social housing providers in recent years, including at Flagship, InCommunities, Magna Housing and B3 Living. He was previously executive director of commercial and marketing at Circle Housing before its merger with Affinity Sutton to form Clarion.

Jonathan Layzell, who took over as chief executive of Stonewater last summer, said: “We’re delighted to welcome Francesco to our Chief Officer Group. He brings a great deal to the table, including strong capability in strategic planning and investor relations, alongside extensive commercial acumen.”

He added: “Our thanks go to Anne for her expertise and leadership over the past 5 years and we wish her every success in her new ventures.”