Dunelm appoints Whitbread CEO as chair designate
Dunelm has appointed Whitbread chief executive Alison Brittain as its chair designate.
Due to join the Dunelm board on 7 September, she will succeed current chair Andy Harrison comfortably in advance of the expiry of his nine year term in September 2023.
Brittain has headed up Whitbread since 2015 but is expected to retire in early 2023. Whilst there she has been credited with scaling the company’s various hospitality brands and overseeing the sale of its Costa Coffee portfolio in 2019.
Prior to Whitbread, she held a number of senior roles in the UK banking sector including group director in the retail division of Lloyds Banking Group and board director at Santander UK and Barclays. She is currently a non-executive director of Experian and has previously served on the board of Marks & Spencer.
Harrison said: “I am thrilled to have an individual of Alison’s considerable talent and experience join our board. Dunelm has emerged from Covid as a bigger and stronger business, with an even bigger opportunity ahead. I am sure that Alison will help us to unlock this potential even faster. She has strong values that are clearly aligned to ours and I look forward to working with her as she takes over the reins in due course.”
