Whitbread names Richard Baker as new chairman
Whitbread, the owner of the Costa chain of coffee shops, has appointed former Alliance Boots chief executive Richard Baker as its new chairman.
Baker will take up his role on 1 September and will replace Anthony Habgood who is stepping down after nine years in the role.
Having been an independent non-executive director on the Whitbread board since September 2009, Baker is currently chairman of Virgin Active Group and chairman of DFS Furniture Holdings. From 2003 to 2007 he was chief executive of Alliance Boots and prior to that was chief operating officer at Asda.
Sir Ian Cheshire, Whitbread’s senior independent director who led the nominations committee process, said: “We were lucky enough to have a very strong field of potential candidates but at the end it was clear to us that Richard was the best choice to take on the role of chairman.
Never Miss a Retail Update!“He has a very strong record in both managing and chairing consumer businesses, a deep understanding of Whitbread’s operations through his role as a non-executive and a strong empathy with our ethos, culture and commitment to serving our customers. We are delighted that he has accepted the role.”
Habgood added: “It has been a privilege to have been the chairman of Whitbread over the past nine years. It is a company with tremendous potential and I’m sure that Richard is the right person to chair the board for the next phase of its development. I wish Richard and everyone at Whitbread every success in the future.”
