POST OFFICE LIMITED - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Chief Financial Officer
- Finance Officer
- Group Chief
- Member of the Executive Team
Alisdair joined Post Office in January 2015. Prior to this appointment, from 2002 to 2014 he worked in a variety of roles for Centrica plc, a FTSE 100 company, including Director of Audit and Risk, Group Financial Controller, Finance Director of British Gas and Managing Director of British Gas Enterprise. Previously he was a partner with Deloitte and Arthur Anderson and served as a trustee of the e-Learning Foundation.
Alisdair is a Non-Executive Director of Dover Harbour Board and previously served an 8 year term as a Non-Executive Director of Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.
Job Titles:
- Chairman of the Remuneration Committee
- Non - Executive Director
Amanda began her career as a lawyer, working in both private practice and as General Counsel in a number of industries. She was appointed executive director of Meyer International PLC in 1997 and became Chair of its Timber Division a year later. Following the acquisition of Meyer by Saint Gobain, she joined the global law firm Clifford Chance LLP in 2000 and carried out a number of operational roles, leading to her appointment as Global Chief Operating Officer in 2010.
For the past 25 years Amanda has been a Non-Executive Director of a number of public, private and charitable organisations and has chaired several Remuneration Committees, most recently Countryside Partnerships plc and HSS Hire Group plc.
Job Titles:
- Non - Executive Director
- Member of the Audit, Risk and Compliance Committee
Andrew brings over 25 years of general management and leadership experience within consumer and retail financial services sectors across several continents. He is the previous Group CEO of Alexander Forbes (listed South African financial services company), CEO of Sun Life Financial International (listed Canadian financial services company) and CEO of Old Mutual Bermuda (subsidiary of Old Mutual plc). He also held senior management roles at UBS AG, Credit Suisse AG and Ernst & Young LLP.
Andrew chairs the Board of Capita Pensions Solutions Limited, is Chairman of Damhurst & Co, Chairman of the Audit, Nominations and Remuneration Committees and Non-Executive director at Hartford International (subsidiary of Hartford Financial Services Group), Chairman of the Finance & Risk Committee and Trustee at World Vision UK and is a Board member at Cranfield School of Management.
Ben Foat - Chief Legal Officer
Job Titles:
- Group General Counsel
- Member of the Executive Team
Ben was appointed to General Counsel of Post Office Limited in May 2019. He is responsible for managing the legal, compliance and company secretariat departments across the organisation and works with executive management and boards in helping to shape strategy, maximise commercial opportunity and mitigate legal, regulatory and governance risk.
Prior to Joining Post Office, he was employed at Zurich Insurance plc in the UK and was previously a Senior Associate in private practice in Australia. He has spoken at various industry events in relation to legal operations, legal technology and emerging resource models. In 2018, he was awarded Solicitor of the Year - Inhouse by the Law Society, shortlisted for Diversity Hero at the 2019 British LGBT+ Awards as well as being listed in the Financial Times OUTstanding 2017 and 2018 lists for his leadership in Diversity and Inclusion.
Ben holds a Master of Laws, Bachelor of Laws (Hons) and Bachelor of Arts with a double major in Political Science.
Job Titles:
- Diversity and Inclusion Manager
Job Titles:
- Senior Independent Director
Ben Tidswell is a lawyer, with over 30 years' experience in resolving complex disputes. Most of his career has been at international law firm Ashurst, where he was a disputes partner for 21 years and Global Chairman for eight years until his retirement from the firm on 31 July 2021.
He is also a part time, fee paid Panel Chairman of the Competition Appeal Tribunal, the UK's specialist competition court.
Ben was born and educated in New Zealand.
Brian has spent his career in General Management within the Supply Chains of Retail, Manufacturing, E-Commerce, and Outsourced Companies. Most recently he has been CEO of Home Delivery Network (now branded Yodel) and iForce, both privately owned companies providing supply chain support to the e-commerce sector.
Prior to these appointments he sat on the Management Boards of Christian Salvesen PLC whilst employed as UK Managing Director, and on the Board of The Big Food Group PLC whilst employed as Group Logistics Director. In the role of European Supply Chain Director, he also sat on the Operating Boards of ASDA Stores, ASDA Walmart, and Walmart Germany.
During his career Brian has also been employed by Scottish and Newcastle Breweries PLC, Grand Metropolitan PLC, United Biscuits PLC, Touche Ross Management Consultants and B & Q.
Having achieved the sale of iForce to an AIM listed business in 2017 Brian has subsequently moved his career onto a non-Executive bias. Until 2021 he was Non-Executive Chairman of Buy it Direct, the on-line electrical retailer, and is currently Non-Executive Chairman of Mosaic Fulfilment Solutions Ltd, an LDC owned company, and has recently taken up an appointment as NED of the privately owned ITD Global.
Job Titles:
- Chief Transformation Officer
Chris joined the Post Office in August 2023. He is responsible for all aspects of IT and Change at the Post Office including the transformation programme which will replace Horizon. Chris has spent the last 15 years in various CIO roles in Retail, Travel, Telecoms and Financial Services with businesses such as Tesco, Tesco Bank, easyJet, Vodafone and Dunelm.
Prior to this, he had a 20 year career in IT consultancy as a partner in Accenture's Financial Services London practice.
Job Titles:
- Non - Executive Director
- Member of the Audit, Risk & Compliance Committee
Elliot has over 25 years' of multi-channel business experience and has been a Postmaster for six years. He currently runs eight ‘Mains' branches in London and Hertfordshire. His UOE Store and Post Offices were recognised in 2018 when the East Finchley branch won ‘Independent Post Office of the Year' at the Retail Industry awards. Prior to his current roles he worked in the computer games (Electronic Arts) and financial software industry (Intuit Inc). He also successfully divested his business-to-business stationery division in 2019 to focus on his retail portfolio.
Elliot is currently a Non-Executive Director (and former chairman) of Office Friendly Dealer Association and was previously a Non-Executive Director of BOSS Federation. He is a certified Master Strategy Summit Facilitator and International Accelerator Trainer for Entrepreneurs Organization as well as Mentor & Business Coach at London Business School's Global Entrepreneur Programme.
Job Titles:
- CEO of the Trussell Trust, Sai
Emma Revie, CEO of the Trussell Trust, said: "Over the last five years, we have seen more and more people struggling to afford the essentials - such as food and clothing - for their families. The cost of living emergency has meant our food banks have experienced an alarming increase in need. In the past six months alone, our figures show almost 1.3 million emergency food parcels were provided for people across the UK experiencing hunger. That's more than our network has ever distributed during this period. Our new partnership means that just by withdrawing cash at your local Post Office branch, you will be helping us support families who are having to make impossible decisions between heating and eating this winter, while supporting our work to end the need for food banks in the UK, for good.''
Job Titles:
- Chairman
- Chairman of the Nominations Committee and Member of the Remuneration Committee
Henry joined the Post Office board as Chairman on 1 December 2022. He has previously been Chairman of WH Smith, The Phoenix Group and Ashtead Group, vice Chairman of Legal and General, and has also served on the boards of ITN, BSkyB, Ladbrokes and Standard Bank.
Job Titles:
- Talent, Diversity and Inclusion Director
Lorna joined UKGI in October 2021. She has had a varied career both in and out of government. She is an experienced senior civil servant having been a director at DCMS and served as Private Secretary to two Prime Ministers. Prior to this, she was a management consultant at Boston Consulting Group working primarily in utilities and financial services. She began her civil service career in the Treasury.
Lorna sits on the Board of Sheffield Forgemasters, a steel forge and precision manufacturer recently acquired by MoD.
She started her career as a secondary school maths teacher in Peckham.
Job Titles:
- Group Chief Retail Officer
Martin Roberts, Group Chief Retail Officer, joined the Post Office in February 2022. He is accountable for the leadership and future development of the network's 11,500 branches, Strategic Partnerships and Supply Chain.
Martin has over 38 years of senior management experience with many of the top retailers in the UK and internationally. He previously held Executive Committee roles at Sainsburys, DIY chain Wickes, Vodafone UK and International and most recently was a member of the Executive Committee at B&M Retail, the leading discount retailer, where he was involved with the team that led this business into the FTSE 100.
Martin is also Non-Executive Chairman at GoAudits since 2019 and Non-Executive Chairman at Taxi Studio from 2021.
Job Titles:
- Chief Executive Officer
- Member of the Executive Team
- Chief Executive, Gave a Speech to Senior Leaders at Post Office at the Start of the New Financial Year Where We Reflected on Progress.
Nick Read, CEO of the Post Office, said: "I'm delighted that Post Office is working with the Trussell Trust again this year with an ambitious target to raise over £330,000 this winter for the important work they do. More and more people are choosing to use cash to help them manage their budgets this year and the cash withdrawal services at Post Offices, including the ability to withdraw the exact amount of cash needed, means customers of all the High Street banks can help us raise money for this vital charity. With many of our branches based in convenience retailers, I'm also incredibly proud to see so many Postmasters stepping up and supporting their local food banks."
Nick joined Post Office as Chief Executive Officer in September 2019. Nick was most recently Group CEO at Extra Energy and prior to that CEO at Nisa Retail Limited where he led the stabilisation and transformation of the business ahead of its sale to the Co-Op in 2018.
Nick has over 25 years of consumer and commercial experience and has previously held senior roles at Tesco, Vodafone, HBOS, Lloyds Banking Group and Thomas Cook.
In his earlier career, Nick was a Consumer and Retail Strategy Manager at Deloitte Consulting, a Purchasing Director for Aldi UK and spent 4 years as Captain of the 4th/7th Royal Dragoon Guard, H.M. Forces.
Nick Read, Chief Executive, gave a speech to senior leaders at Post Office at the start of the new financial year where we reflected on progress.
Job Titles:
- Deputy Chief Executive
- Member of the Executive Team
Owen joined the Post Office in June 2016 as the Sales Director, having previously spent four years as Managing Director of the retail business at Lloyds Bank with responsibility for the branch network and customer base. Prior to that, he spent 20 years at Barclays where he undertook a number of senior roles in retail and commercial banking, both in the UK and sub-Saharan Africa. He subsequently launched and ran a new UK bank in the wake of the financial crisis, Shawbrook, which focused on commercial property and asset finance lending. He was promoted to Group Chief Commercial Officer in February 2020 and Deputy Chief Executive in July 2023.
Owen has also been a Governor of Nottingham Trent University since 2014.
Job Titles:
- Group Corporate Affairs, Communications & Brand Director
Richard joined the Post Office in January 2020 after four years as Communications Director at ScottishPower and six years as Corporate Affairs and Communications Director at the supermarket chain Morrisons.
Richard has over 25 years of political, media and commercial experience having previously worked for the CBI, the Labour Party, as Special Adviser to the Secretary of State for Defence and as a Partner at Portland Communications. He holds an MPhil in Environment and Development from the University of Cambridge.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Nominations Committee
- Non - Executive Director
Job Titles:
- Non - Executive Director
- Chairman of the Audit, Risk and Compliance Committee
Simon brings experience of the auditing world and financial services. Until 2023 he chaired AON UK Limited and Henderson International Income Trust plc. He was a Non-Executive Director of St James's Place plc where he chaired the Audit Committee, and was a member of the Risk, Remuneration and Nominations Committees. He was a senior audit partner with PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP from 1986 to 2006 where he also led their Global Investment Management practice. Between 2006 and 2014, Simon was CFO and Chief Operating Officer at Fidelity International and at The Wellcome Trust.
Simon chairs the Board of St James Place International plc, and is Chair of the Audit and Risk Committees of Templeton Emerging Markets Investment Trust plc, SimCorp A/S, a listed Danish financial services software company, and the Crown Prosecution Service.
Job Titles:
- Strategy & Transformation Director and Has Responsibility for Group
Tim joined Post Office in February 2020 as Strategy & Transformation Director and has responsibility for group-wide strategy as well as change governance. As Chair of Post Office's investment committee Tim is responsible for all investment approvals across the business and ensuring these are linked to the overall Group strategy.
Prior to the Post Office, Tim was an Executive Director at UK Government Investments with coverage of assets across a wide range of Government Departments including BEIS, DCMS, MoD and DLUHC. Prior to this Tim worked in mergers and acquisitions in London, New York and Vienna for Lazard and ABN AMRO.
Tim has also been the Chair of the Herne Hill Velodrome Trust since 2019.
Job Titles:
- Diversity and Inclusion Co - Ordinator