Ian Playford joins the company on October 19 and will sit on Kingfisher's retail board.
Mr Playford joins Kingfisher from property development and investment group Parkridge, where he currently holds the role of ceo, Western Europe and Russia.

He will be responsible for maximising the economic returns from Kingfisher's £3.2bn international property portfolio, drawing on his experience in commercial property fund management. Mr Playford will also support the group's store opening plans in Europe.

Commenting on the appointment, Kingfisher group chief executive Ian Cheshire said: "I am delighted to have secured the appointment of someone with Ian's breadth of experience. His background in international property development is clearly important to an international retailer like Kingfisher."

Mr Playford said of his new role: "Kingfisher are at a very exciting point and their portfolio provides many opportunities from which to add value. As a FTSE100 company with over 800 stores in eight markets it is a fantastic challenge."