Housing high-flyer

JESSICA White has become one of the most powerful women in the UK housing industry after builder Barratt Developments made her its chief financial officer.

White, 38, will take up the role immediately and joins the board as executive director.

She qualified as a chartered accountant with PwC in 2003, and has been Barratt’s group financial controller since 2010.

She started her career in the housebuilding sector as a corporate accountant at Wilson Bowden in 2005, a firm acquired by Barratt two years later, and has been serving as head of financial accounting.