Board
Find out more about our Matters Reserved for the Board and role descriptions.
Andrew Cosslett
Board Chairman, Chairman of the Nomination Committee
Expertise and experience:
Andrew’s early career was with Unilever in a variety of branding and marketing roles. He then spent 14 years at Cadbury Schweppes in senior, international roles before becoming CEO for InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG). Andrew was at IHG for six years, creating value by leveraging the power of its brands alongside executing a programme of significant transformational and cultural change. He served as CEO for Fitness First, where he was instrumental in successfully repositioning the business and brand. Andrew joined the board of the Rugby Football Union in 2012 before being appointed chairman in 2016.
Appointed:
April 2017
Chairman:
June 2017
Thierry Garnier
Chief Executive Officer
Expertise and experience:
Thierry is an experienced retailer having spent 20 years in senior roles at Carrefour, the French multi-national retailer. In his previous role, Thierry was a member of the Carrefour Group Executive Committee and the Chief Executive Officer of Carrefour Asia. From 2003 to 2008, Thierry was the Managing Director of Supermarkets for Carrefour France. Following this successful period, he became Chief Executive Officer of Carrefour International and a member of the Group Executive Committee in 2008, with a broader remit including Asia, Latin America and various European countries.
Appointed:
September 2019
Bernard Bot
Chief Financial Officer
Expertise and experience:
Bernard is a seasoned chief financial officer having held the role at several international listed companies. Bernard also has significant experience of large-scale transformation programmes, logistics and supply chain management, technology and digital services. He was CFO at Travelport Worldwide, a global NYSE-listed company providing a technology platform for the travel industry, until it was taken private in June 2019. Prior to that, Bernard was CFO of Aer Lingus and held various senior positions at TNT and TNT Express. Previously, he worked at McKinsey & Company where he rose to become a Partner and leader of it's worldwide Post and Logistics group. Bernard is a non-executive director of A.P. Moller-Maersk A/S and a member of its Audit Committee.
Appointed:
October 2019
Mark Seligman
Senior Independent Director
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
Claudia Arney
Chairman of the Remuneration Committee, Non-Executive Director
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 and governance committee chair at Aviva plc. Claudia is currently non-executive director and remuneration committee chair at Derwent London. She also serves as interim chair of the Premier League. Claudia is also a non-executive director at Ocado Group plc. 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
Jeff Carr
Chairman of the Audit Committee, Non-Executive Director
Expertise and experience:
Jeff became CFO of Reckitt Benckiser Group plc on 9 April 2020. Reckitt Benckiser has operations in over 60 countries and a large number of globally trusted household brands and products. Jeff previously held an executive finance role with Reckitt Benckiser earlier in his career. Most recently, Jeff was CFO of Koninklijke Ahold Delhaize N.V. (Ahold Delhaize), one of the world’s largest retail groups. Jeff was previously group finance director at both FirstGroup plc and easyJet plc, and held a senior finance role at Associated British Foods plc. He was also previously a non-executive director at McBride plc.
Appointed:
June 2018
Sophie Gasperment
Non-Executive Director
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 chair and CEO of The Body Shop International and managing director of L’Oréal UK & Ireland. Sophie is a non-executive director of Accor, 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. In addition, Sophie is a senior advisor at the Boston Consulting Group and will join Givaudan SA as a non-executive director from 1 September 2020.
Appointment:
December 2018
Rakhi Goss-Custard
Non-Executive Director
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, Rightmove plc and Travelopia and was previously a non-executive director of Intu Properties plc.
Appointed:
February 2016
