John Allan is set to join the board and be appointed as the new chairman of Tesco on 1 March 2015.
Outgoing chairman Richard Broadbent will step down from the board on the same date.
Allan brings experience from a number of industries to the beleaguered retailer.
Broadbent, outgoing chairman, said:“I am delighted that John has agreed to join us and take on the role of chairman of the board. I am sure that his wide expertise, his experience and his personal qualities will contribute greatly to the future of the group.”
Patrick Cescau, senior independent director at Tesco, said:“Following a deep and thorough process run by a committee of independent non-executive directors, the board unanimously agreed that John Allan was the right candidate to chair Tesco at this important time.
'On behalf of the board I would like to thank Richard for his work as chairman. He has served the business with unflinching commitment through a period of unprecedented change, and put in place a new senior leadership team for the next stage of Tesco's development.”
Allan added:'I'm very pleased to be taking on this role at such a critical moment for the business and look forward to working with the new executive team and the board.”
Who is John Allan?
Allan’s early career was with Lever Bros and Bristol-Myers in a variety of marketing roles. He then spent eight years at Fine Fare, a subsidiary of ABF, before serving as divisional CEO at BET for nine years.
He became CEO of Ocean Group in 1994, and then of logistics firm Exel when Ocean Group merged with NFC in 2000. Exel was acquired by Deutsche Post in 2005, and Allan joined the board of Deutsche Post to manage the integration, and subsequently the new logistics division. In 2007 he was invited to become CFO of Deutsche Post - a post he held until his retirement and return to the UK in 2009.
From there, he became chairman of Dixons Retail in September 2009. The retailer merged with Carphone Warehouse in August 2014 to form Dixons Carphone, and Allan is currently a deputy chairman and SID of the new company, as well as chairman of housing developer Barratt Developments and chairman of payment processing company Worldpay.
Following his appointment to the Tesco board, Allan will step down from the boards of Dixons Carphone and Royal Mail. He will be resigning with immediate effect from his role as a senior advisor to Alix Partners, and he will step down as chair of the DHL UK Foundation as soon as a successor is found, which is anticipated to be within three months.
He is expected to continue in his other roles as chairman of Barratt Developments and WorldPay.
Allan will be paid a fee of £650,000 per annum at Tesco, fixed for three years, inclusive of all board fees.
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