DS SMITH - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Non - Executive Director
- Member of the Nomination, Remuneration and Audit Committees
- Non - Executive Director of Imperial Brands Plc
Alan is a non-executive director of Imperial Brands plc and William Grant & Sons Holdings Limited, where he also chairs the audit committee and has been appointed as the inaugural Chair of the Stakeholder Advisory Council of the Standard Settings Board, which will provide strategic advice to the International Ethics Standards Board for Accountants and the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board. He has been President and Chair of the Board of the International Federation of Accountants and chaired the audit committee of the International Valuation Standards Council. Alan previously held a number of senior finance positions at Unilever during a 30-year career, including Chief Audit Executive and Chief Financial Officer of the Global Foods Division. Prior to Unilever, Alan was Chief Financial Officer and then a non-executive director at food retailer Jerónimo Martins, SGPS, SA until April 2016.
Job Titles:
- Non - Executive Director
- Global Client Leader at WPP
- Member of the Nomination, Remuneration and Audit Committees
Alina is a Global Client Leader at WPP, a leading international marketing communications company and her current role with WPP includes working with global clients on their sustainability agenda. She has over 25 years of experience building global brands for large multinational clients, helping them grow their business through communications, experience, commerce and technology. Originally from Ukraine and a US national, Alina has lived and worked in the UK, US, Australia and Germany.
Job Titles:
- Non - Executive Director
- Senior Independent Director and Remuneration Committee Chair of Dowlais Group Plc
Celia is the Senior Independent Director and remuneration committee chair of Dowlais Group plc and non-executive director of discoverIE Group plc. Her early executive career was with Ford Motor Company and KPMG. She has held HR positions with Hays plc, Enterprise Oil Plc, Tate & Lyle Plc and was Director of Group HR at Bunzl plc where she was responsible for all ESG activities for 13 years. As a non-executive director, she was on the board of NV Bekaert SA until May 2020 and on the board of RHI Magnesita N.V. until June 2021 and retired as Senior Independent Director and the remuneration committee chair at Senior plc in April 2023.
Job Titles:
- Group Chief
- Information Officer
- Member of the Group Operating Committee
- Member of Group Operating Committee
The Group Chief Information Officer is accountable for the strategic alignment of our IT resources and will lead the IT function during the coming period of change, particularly around SFR and our applications landscape.
Job Titles:
- Senior Independent Director
- Non - Executive Director and Audit Committee Chair of EasyJet Plc
David is currently a non-executive director and audit committee chair of easyJet plc. He was the Senior Independent Director and chair of the audit committee at FirstGroup plc until June 2021. He was previously Finance Director of Rexam PLC. Prior to his role at Rexam, David served in senior finance roles at BTR plc before becoming Group Finance Director at CMG plc in 2000 and then Chief Financial Officer at Royal P&O Nedloyd N.V. in 2004. He served as a non-executive director of the BBC between 2006 and 2010 and as chair of their audit committee. David qualified as a chartered accountant at KPMG.
Job Titles:
- Non - Executive Director
- CEO of Aliaxis SA
- Member of the Nomination, Remuneration and Audit Committees
Eric is currently CEO of Aliaxis SA, board member of Fortera Inc, member of the Technical and Strategic Advisory Committee of Breakthrough Energy Ventures Europe and a corporate advisor for Temasek Holdings Inc. A Certified Public Accountant (CPA) and holding a Master of Business Administration from HEC international business school in Paris, Eric was the CEO of LafargeHolcim from 2015-2017. Prior to that he also held a number of other roles within the Lafarge Group, including as EVP Organisation and Human Resources and EVP in charge of Operations. Eric started his career in the field of M&A at Deloitte & Touche and Banque Paribas and was one of the managing partners of Trinity Associates for 6 years. Eric has dual American and French nationalities.
Job Titles:
- Chairman
- Non - Executive Chair of Ferguson Plc
Geoff is non-executive chair of Ferguson plc. He retired from being the Senior Independent Director of Howden Joinery Group Plc in May 2023. Geoff served for 12 years as Chief Executive of Ashtead Group plc, the FTSE 100 industrial equipment rental company. He was previously an executive director of The Laird Group plc and held a number of senior management positions at Black & Decker.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Group Operating Committee
- Director of Corporate Affairs
- Member of Group Operating Committee
The Director of Corporate Affairs is in charge of growing and protecting the reputation of the business. This is done through media relations, government and community affairs, and employee communications.
Iain Simm - Chief Legal Officer, Secretary
Job Titles:
- Company Secretary
- Group General Counsel
- Member of the Group Operating Committee
- Member of Group Operating Committee
The Group General Counsel and Company Secretary has overall responsibility for legal, company secretarial and governance matters, and Group risk and insurance and property.
Job Titles:
- Non - Executive Director
- Member of the Nomination, Remuneration and Audit Committees
- Non - Executive Director and Remuneration Committee Chair of Informa PLC
Appointed to the Board as a Non-Executive Director on 23 June 2014.
Louise is currently a non-executive director and remuneration committee chair of Informa PLC and a non-executive director of A.G. BARR p.l.c. She was Group Human Resources Director of Whitbread PLC and for nine years until August 2021 an Executive Director of Whitbread PLC, where she held several key transformation and HR roles. She previously worked as a HR professional in the oil industry, with BP and Esso Petroleum. Louise is an alumna of the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership and has experience of leading timely evolutions to sustainability strategies.
Job Titles:
- Group Chief Executive
- Member of the Group Operating Committee
- Member of Group Operating Committee
The Group Chief Executive is responsible for the leadership and operational management of the Group within the strategy and business plan agreed by the Board.
Appointed to the Board as an Executive Director and as Group Chief Executive on 4 May 2010.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Group Operating Committee
- Member of Group Operating Committee
- Paper Sourcing & Procurement
Job Titles:
- Group Finance Director
- Member of the Group Operating Committee
- Member of Group Operating Committee
The Group Finance Director oversees all financial aspects of the Group's strategy and is responsible for the accurate, timely and relevant flow of financial information to the Group Chief Executive, the Board and external parties such as investors and financial institutions.
Appointed to the Board as an Executive Director and as Group Finance Director on 30 June 2023.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Group Operating Committee
- Divisional CEO Packaging
- Member of Group Operating Committee
All Chief Executives of the Group's operating divisions are members of the GMT.
Job Titles:
- Non - Executive Director
- Member of the Nomination, Remuneration and Audit Committees
Before joining DS Smith, Richard was Chief Financial Officer of Biffa plc. Prior to that he spent time in the food manufacturing sector as Group Finance Director of AB Sugar and Managing Director of British Sugar (both parts of ABF plc), followed by being Chief Financial Officer of Boparan Holdings Limited. Earlier in his career Richard trained and qualified as a chartered accountant with PwC, and thereafter went on to hold a variety of roles at Scapa Group plc, Pilkington plc and Manchester Airports Group.
Tessa joined the Board following her retirement from Spencer Stuart, a global leadership search and advisory firm, where she led the UK Board and CEO practice, working with clients in the UK and internationally. Tessa previously held non-executive director roles at Ferguson plc for 10 years and at Barratt Developments plc for 9 years. Prior to joining Spencer Stuart, Tessa was a founding director of Cantos Communications, an online corporate communications company where she also managed many of its largest client accounts. Her earlier career was as an investment banker for 18 years, which started at BZW, then Schroders, latterly as a managing director in which she worked in both the UK and US advising companies on equity capital markets and M&A.