Board

Expertise and experience:
Véronique is a highly experienced international retailer who has worked in the home improvement sector for more than 25 years in France and in the UK. She joined Kingfisher in 2003, after spending 15 years at Leroy Merlin in various commercial roles, and in her 15 years with the business she has held several key roles including CEO of Castorama France, Group Commercial Director and Commercial Director of B&Q UK & Ireland.

Appointed:

December 2014

Expertise and experience:
Mark provides substantial expertise to the Board in the field of finance, having previously been a senior adviser at Credit Suisse. He began his career at Price Waterhouse and spent over 30 years in the City, including senior roles at SG Warburg, BZW and Credit Suisse First Boston. At Credit Suisse he was deputy chairman Europe and later chairman UK investment banking. Mark currently serves as an alternate member of the Panel on Takeovers and Mergers. He is also a non-executive director of Smiths Group plc and senior independent director of The Royal Bank of Scotland plc.

Appointed: 

January 2012

Expertise and experience:
Claudia brings a wealth of experience of business transformation and building digital capabilities to the Board having held previous non-executive roles including: chair of remuneration committee at Halfords plc, senior independent director of Telecity Group plc, Transport for London, The Shareholder Executive, Which?, Huawei Technologies, and chair of the Public Data Group. Claudia is currently non-executive director and remuneration committee chair at Derwent London. She also serves as a non-executive director and governance committee chair at Aviva plc, and as interim chair of the Premier League. Claudia began her career at McKinsey & Co, before holding roles at Pearson, the Financial Times, Goldman Sachs, and HM Treasury. She was group managing director, digital at EMAP.

Appointed: 

November 2018

Expertise and experience: 
Pascal provides the Board with expertise in the field of digital and multi-channel retailing. He was formerly the general manager, vice president of Apple Europe, Middle East, India and Africa. His previous experience includes roles at Packard Bell, NEC and Booz Allen Hamilton. He held the position of non-executive director on the board of Egg Banking plc, the online banking arm of Prudential plc, was an independent member of the supervisory board of Vivendi SA and served on the board of Style.com. He actively conducts strategy, consulting and venture capital activities through C4 Ventures – c4v.com, is a member of the board of directors of Banque Transatlantique, and is also chairman of Business France.

Appointed:

November 2010

Expertise and experience: 
Jeff is currently CFO of Koninklijke Ahold Delhaize N.V. (Ahold Delhaize), one of the world’s largest retail groups. Ahold Delhaize is headquartered in the Netherlands, operates across Europe and the US, and has a strong physical and ecommerce offering. Jeff was previously group finance director at both FirstGroup plc and easyJet plc, and held senior finance roles at Associated British Foods plc and Reckitt Benckiser Group plc. He was also previously a non-executive director at McBride plc.

Appointed:

June 2018

Expertise and experience:
Clare brings international expertise from a series of high-profile HR leadership roles. She was previously group people director of BT Group and director general of workforce for the NHS and Social Care. She was also a non-executive director and remuneration committee chair of TUI Travel plc. Her previous experience includes group HR director of Tesco plc and HR vice president of Pepsi Cola’s west and central European operations. Clare is a non-executive director and remuneration committee chair of Heidrick & Struggles International, Inc., and The Weir Group plc. Clare also serves as a commissioner on the Low Pay Commission.

Appointed:

December 2010

Expertise and experience: 
Sophie brings to the Board expertise in strategy, brand and international retail markets as well as substantial experience in business transformation and digital capabilities, having held a number of senior leadership positions at L’Oréal, including executive chairman of The Body Shop International and managing director of L’Oréal UK & Ireland. Sophie is a non-executive director of AccorHotels, where she chairs the appointments, compensation and CSR committee. She is also a non-executive director of the D’Ieteren group, and the lead independent director on the board of Cimpress, a NASDAQ-listed technology company. Sophie was appointed French Foreign Trade Advisor in 2005.

Appointment:

December 2018

Expertise and experience: 

Rakhi is a highly experienced director in digital retailing, having spent 11 years at Amazon.com. Most recently she was director, UK media at Amazon, responsible for ranges such as books, music and DVDs. She was previously director, UK hardlines, where she was responsible for home, garden and DIY product ranges. Prior to joining Amazon, Rakhi held roles at TomTom and in management consultancy in the United States. Rakhi is a non-executive director of Schroders plc and Rightmove plc, and was previously a non-executive director of Intu Properties plc.

Appointed:

February 2016