Following last month’s unveiling of the latest addition to the company’s property and leisure portfolio – The Shankly Hotel – Signature Living is pleased to announce the appointment of a chief operations officer­ in Alan Hartley.

Alan joins Signature Living as the company embarks upon a major expansion programme, which will see the development of new hotels and accommodation in cities throughout the UK.

Having previously worked at AstraZeneca and Unilever, Alan joins Signature Living from URENCO Ltd, one of the world’s leading uranium enrichment companies, where he was group head of procurement, managing a global team of 60 people and overseeing an annual spend of €800m.

Responsible for the development and execution of URENCO’s global procurement strategy, Alan transformed the dated and fragmented procurement teams into a global high performing function maximising value from both revenue and capital expenditure.

He also led a savings programme that consistently out-performed ambitious targets delivering savings in excess of €250m during his six-year tenure.

Formal recognition of Alan’s success came this year when he was a finalist for the 2015 Procurement Leader award at the prestigious Procurement Leaders Awards and the 2015 Chartered Institute of Procurement & Supply’s Management Professional of the Year.

The URENCO Procurement Team led by him also reached the finals in the Transformation and Cross Functional Collaboration categories at the Procurement Leaders Awards.

Of his move from the nuclear industry to the hospitality sector Alan said:

“For me it’s not about working within a particular industry, be that pharmaceutical, nuclear – or in this case, a hotel group – it’s about the company and the opportunity for me to make a tangible difference to an organization in terms of service delivery, performance and value.

“Signature Living is a company that is led by individuals who share similar values and ambitions to myself and it presents precisely the sort of the challenge I am looking for at this point in my career.”

Speaking about Alan’s appointment, Signature Living founder Lawrence Kenwright said:

“Alan brings with him a wealth of experience. He has an impressive track record in management and procurement having worked for a number of global organisations.

“As Signature Living continues to grow, Alan is well placed to lead our senior management team and work closely with Katie and I on future projects.

“This is an exciting time for the company as we begin our UK-wide expansion and explore other development opportunities in Europe.”