Career moves including Tui and WPP
A round up of CFO and other senior finance role changes in the UK and elsewhere.
A round up of CFO and other senior finance role changes in the UK and elsewhere.
Tui Group’s finance chief Horst Baier has vacated his post after 22 years with the travel and tourism group. Birgit Conix, who has been a member of Tui AG’s executive board since July, will take over the position of CFO with immediate effect. Baier was appointed as an executive board member in 2007 and held the CFO position since 2010. He played an important role in the restructuring of Tui in 2013 and the merger between Tui AG and UK-based Tui Travel at the end of 2014.
Price comparison Moneysupermarket.com has hired Marks & Spencer finance boss Scilla Grimble as its chief financial officer. She will replace exiting CFO Matthew Price. Prior to joining Marks & Spencer, Grimble held leading roles at Tesco and UBS Investment Bank.
“I am delighted to have Scilla join the team. She brings significant experience to the group of leading finance teams in several consumer facing public companies and has a strong background in commercial finance and banking. Having launched our new strategy at the start of the year, Scilla will strengthen our management team capability and help us deliver growth,” said Moneysupermarket CEO Mark Lewis.
Essex-based housebuilding and urban regeneration company Countryside Properties has elevated CFO Becky Worthington as the COO effective immediately. Joining in 2015, Worthington’s new role will see her oversee the group’s housebuilding and partnerships divisions. Worthington’s role will be taken over by financial controller Mike Scott who will be promoted to CFO. Prior to working at Countryside since 2014, Scott has experience in the financial sector working at J Sainsbury.
Commenting on the promotions, CEO Ian Sutcliffe said: “We are delighted to welcome Becky to the role of group COO. She has been an integral part of formulating and delivering strategy over the last three years. In Mike we have a talented and highly experienced finance professional who is fully ready to step up to the CFO role. We are delighted to welcome him to the board.”
British multinational advertising and public relations company WPP has promoted Andrew Scott as the chief operational officer. He was previously working as the co-chief operational officer along with recently turned CEO Mark Read. As COO, Scott will be responsible for the company’s operational structure and leading acquisitions. The company also announced the promotions of chief transformation officer Lindsay Pattinson as the chief client officer and WPP UK CEO and Wunderman Global CTO Stephan Pretorius as the chief technology officer of WPP.
Financial services provider Hitachi Capital has announced that Jonathan Biggin will join the firm as the chief operating officer. He will be responsible with the integration of the new technology as well as utilisation of the data across the group. With over 20 years of experience, Biggin has worked with big companies like Barclays, American Express, Bank of America and, most recently, Lloyds Banking Group.
Hitachi Capital CEO Robert Gordon said: “I am hugely excited to welcome Jonathan to the team. His significant experience will be valuable in bringing our operations together, driving efficiency and strengthening our senior leadership team.”
London-based investment and wealth management supplier Rathbone Brothers has hired Jennifer Mathias as its group finance director effective from 1 April 2019. She will replace Paul Stockton who will continue working as executive director and help Mathias take over her role smoothly. Mathias will also join the board as an executive director and become a member of the group executive committee. She has previously worked as the CFO and deputy CEO of EFG Private Bank and was FD of corporate banking at Lloyds Banking Group.
“I am delighted that Jennifer will be joining our board and executive team and look forward to working alongside her. With extensive experience in the wealth management and private banking sectors, she will make a significant contribution to the delivery of our strategic plans and brings qualities that will be complementary to the management team at Rathbones,” said Rathbone Partners CEO Philip Howell.
London headquartered global hospitality management and real estate group Millennium & Copthorne (M&C) Hotels has announced the resignation of CEO Jennifer Fox. The reason behind the resignation was not revealed, but the company said that Fox and M&C had mutually decided on her immediate exit. Fox had recently joined the company in June replacing former CEO Aloysius Lee. Prior to this, Fox had served with Fairmount Hotels & Resorts as the chief executive. Chief of staff Tan Kian Seng will replace Fox until an appropriate successor is found for the company.
Advertising group Publicis Groupe has appointed a leadership team headed by CEO Annette King that includes chief operating officer Jo Coombs who joins from Ogilvy, where she was the UK CEO of OgilvyOne. Coombs has worked with British Airways, American Express, Unilever and the UK government. In her new role as COO, she will help drive the country model while working closely with the solution hub and agency leads. The team also includes chief growth officer Anna Campbell, head of talent Paula Cunnington and CFO James Barnes-Austin. King said: “I am delighted to bring Jo, Anna, Paula and James together to create what I hope will be a truly game -changing UK Country leadership team. They have such a diverse set of skills and experience which I am certain we can put to great use in service of our clients, our UK solutions hubs and agency leaders and our people.”
Construction group Willmott Dixon’s FD Philip Wainwright has stepped down from his current role and former trainee Graham Dundas has replaced him. Wainwright exits the company three years prior to joining from Byrne Group, where he spent 10 months as interim finance director, before moving over to Willmott Dixon.
Speaking on his exit, CEO Rick Willmott said: “The board has enjoyed a great working relationship with Philip over the last three years and much has been achieved in that time. We fully understand Philip’s decision and appreciate his candour and openness around his wish to move on and wish him every success in his future endeavours.”
Civil engineering construction unit Ferrovial Agroman UK has replaced its finance director Jose Melchor who has served for the company’s Europe, Middle East, South-East Asia, Africa and Oceania operation. Andres Blanco Diez has been promoted to the post of finance director who has been a part of the group for 20 years. The Spanish construction giant has most recently suffered a £12.1m loss on turnover of £364.4m, primarily due to its role in the M8 motorway improvement scheme in Scotland, in which it lost £43m over 2015 and 2016.
Irish food producer Kerry Group has announced the appointment of Marguerite Larkin as its new chief financial officer. Group takes the position after replacing the company’s long-standing Chief Financial Officer Brian Mehigan, who has served as the finance chief since 2002. Larkin is an experienced chartered accountant who has also worked as a senior partner at Deloitte before joining the Irish group.
UK-based financial services provider Quilter has announced changes to its senior management team. Martin Baines, chief executive of Quilter Cheviot, has announced his resignation and will be replaced by Andy McGlone who is currently the managing director at DFM. COO Steve Braudo has also announced his exit and will leave the group on 5 October 2018 to pursue other opportunities. Braudo will be replaced by Karin Cook who had worked at Lloyds Banking group as COO. The firm also announced that Peter Kenny will take over the role of CEO of Quilter International. Chief marketing Officer Michelle Andrews and corporate affairs director Jane Goodland are joining the executive committee along with McGlone, Kenny and Cook.
Gateshead-based technology firm Aspire Technology Solutions has elevated Stuart Hall to finance director. Hall joined the firm as the finance manager in 2016 from KPMG and worked as an assistant manager for two years.
Managing Director Chris Fraser said: “I’m delighted with the impact Stuart has had since joining Aspire. He’s overseen a period of significant growth in the organisation, which has resulted in huge growth of our finance team.”
UK-based fitness and wellness chain The Gym Group has appointed Mark George as its chief financial officer. He replaces Richard Darwin who has stepped up to become CEO following the departure of John Treharne. George has previously worked at Tesco as finance director of the supermarket’s UK retail operations for six years. He has recently served as CFO of Auto Trader UK and interim commercial finance director at ASOS.
Low-Code and digital transform platform OutSystems has announced the appointment of Tim MacCarrick as its new chief financial officer. MacCarrick has worked as chief financial officer and chief operating officer at Xerox, Crane Co, De Lage Landen and most recently at QLIK technologies. Paulo Rosado, CEO of OutSystems said: “We needed a CFO to help us capitalise on the massive opportunity we see in the market. Tim brings the perfect balance of public company expertise, operational excellence, and a people-based leadership style that fits nicely into our culture. We’re thrilled to have him on the executive team.”
Motorcycle manufacturer Ducati Motor Holding has announced the recruitment of Oliver Stein as its new chief financial officer and a member of the board of management. He will be looking after finance, controlling and information technology in the company. Stein has served as managing director at Audi and managing director finance at Germany Seat. He has 15 years of experience working with the Volkswagen group and has served as vice president and CFO of Audi of America, where he was responsible for finance and organisation.
British drug design company Exscientia has appointed Georgy Egorov as its new CFO with immediate effect. Egorov holds extensive experience in global capital markets and investors relations along with corporate development and strategic planning. He has worked at the CompareEuropeGroup as CFO and at UBC as managing director. He has played a part in over 80 deals, where he successfully raised more than $100bn for leading companies around the world.
Andrew Hopkins, CEO of Exscientia said: “We are delighted to welcome Georgy to the team at this exciting time for Exscientia. Georgy brings an impressive array of skills and experience, particularly in fund raising, corporate strategy and development. We believe that this will greatly support Exscientia’s ambitious growth plans as we pursue the industrialisation of our unique AI platform, development of our proprietary pipeline and advancement of existing and future partnered programmes.”
London-based electronic invoice processing group CloudTrade has announced the appointment of Sunil Purohit as its chief financial officer. The company also announced Philip Padfield as chairman and Richard Moore as investment director. Moreover, Tara Burghardt has joined CloudTrade as the marketing manager.
“CloudTrade is growing, so building out the board and management team with the additions of Philip, Richard, Sunil and Tara, will strengthen our brand globally, drive our business forward and further cement our ability to provide a solution that streamlines the Purchase-to-Pay and Order-to-Cash processes for our users and their suppliers,” said CloudTrade CEO and co-founder David Cocks.
Group Finance Director Mark Burrell of Football League One club Wycombe Wanderers Football Club and Wycombe Wanderers Trust has announced his exit from the club. He will leave on 8 October 2018 in order to shift focus to his personal business. Group Treasurer Martyn Broughton will take over Burrell’s role on an interim basis until a permanent successor is found. Speaking regarding his resignation, Chairman Trevor Stroud said: “Mark’s contributions have enabled us to present an attractive proposition to potential investors who may be able to take the club forward, and we thank him for everything he’s done and wish him every success and happiness for the future.”
Data analytics firm Ebiquity appointed Kevin McNair as its new interim finance head with immediate effect. McNair will take the position of the current Chief Financial Officer Andrew Noble, who held the position since September 2016, and announced his exit last week with immediate effect. However, he will remain at the firm until late December for a smooth handover. McNair has held roles of finance director, chief financial officer and chief operating officer previously for publicly quoted and privately-owned businesses.
The board of Brighton attraction British Airways i360 has announced the exit of executive director Steve Bax. Bax joined i360 in July 2017 following the exit of former chief Eleanor Harris. Former managing director of London Eye, David Sharpe,will replace Bax until a successor is found.
Julia Barfield, chair of Brighton i360 commented: “It is with regret that the board of Brighton i360 Ltd has accepted the resignation of Steve Bax, our executive director, who has decided to leave the company to explore other opportunities. His last day in the office will be Wednesday 10 October and he will be on gardening leave until the end of February 2019.”
London-based retailer Via Outlets has announced the appointments as chief financial officer and chief operating officer. Otto Ambagtsheer has joined as COO and Peter Stals has been hired as the CFO. Ambagtsheer joins the company from Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield where he worked as the managing director. Peter Stals comes from BlackRock where he served various roles including vice president, director and head of transaction support and valuations secretary for EMEA real estate.
German fashion retailer Gerry Weber has announced that CEO Ralf Weber will step down from his role at the end of the month and join the company’s supervisory board. He will be replaced by Johannes Ehling who is currently the chief sales and chief digital officer as well as member of the managing board. The company also announced the appointment of Florian Frank as chief restructuring officer and member of the managing board. Furthermore, Founder Gerhard Weber has also stepped down for reasons of age.
Dr Ernst F. Schröder, chairman of the supervisory board said: “In Ralf Weber, our managing board loses a wholehearted entrepreneur with a strong emotional bond to Gerry Weber International AG and the entire region. He took great responsibility in a time of great difficulty and initiated the restructuring of our organisation with Fit4Growth and the Performance Program.”‘
Germany-based insurance company Munich Re Group has announced that commercial director Mari-Lizette Malherbe has replaced exiting CEO Andy Batley effective immediately. Malherbe has been part of the group since 2007 and joined the senior management team in 2016 as head of pricing & marketing. In her role, she was responsible for protection, longevity, and structured transactions of the company.
Speaking on her promotion, Thomas Blunck said: “Beyond serving as a leader in the Munich Re London (Life Branch), Mari-Lizette brings a unique perspective on the global business environment, having a true multi-cultural career journey. I can think of no one better suited to lead Munich Re London (Life Branch). I am certain Mari-Lizette will continue to evolve the Munich Re London (Life Branch) strategy to ensure relevance and success for the future.”
UK headquartered Energean Oil & Gas has recruited Iman Hill as its new chief operating officer effective from 1 November 2018. Hill is currently working for UAE-based Dana Gas as the technical director and president Egypt. Before joining Dana Gas in 2015, Hill held various roles including vice president for development and production Africa at Sasol Petroleum International.
CEO Mathios Rigas commented: “Iman is a highly experienced oil and gas professional with a proven track record and we are delighted to welcome her to the team. She brings a wealth of operational and technical expertise and we look forward to working closely with Iman across all of our global operations as we continue to grow production, profitability and deliver shareholder value.”
UK-based international provider of content services Ingenta has announced the promotion of acting CEO Scott Winner as permanent CEO. He will replace former chief executive officer David Montgomery who left the company on 22 August 2018. Prior to his current role, Winner was the chief operating officer since 2015.
Speaking on his promotion, Martyn Rose, chairman of Ingenta said: “Scott Winner has demonstrated his skills in driving a company vision, crafting a strategy, and in developing strong partnerships with customers and other key stakeholders within the business. These skills will be critical as we look forward to building on the work he has already done improving the operational efficiency of the business.”
Germany-based DHL Supply Chain has announced the resignation of Chief Executive Officer Paul Dyer. He joined the company 28 years ago and has contributed with the growth of the Automotive and LLP propositions across multiple markets. Chief Development Officer Jose Nava has replaced Dyer effective from 1 October 2018.
Commenting on Dyer’s role as the CEO, DHL said: “During his tenure as CEO he implemented valuable changes and helped set the UK on a path to deliver future growth.”
Bolton-based Four Recruitment has appointed Phill Carlin as its finance director. In his new role, Carlin will be working on growth strategies of the company alone with owners Phil & Claire Sofield. Carlin has worked with numerous SMEs across the UK as part of FD Financial Resource.
Commenting on the appointment, Sofield said: “I’m delighted to welcome him to the fold, we’ve watched his career with interest over the past 10 years, as a candidate we’ve assisted him in a number of FD roles with our clients. We’re really looking forward to working with him as we look to realise our ambitions as a business over the coming years.”