Whitbread PLC, the parent company of Costa Coffee, announced on Thursday the appointments of Deanna Oppenheimer and David Atkins as Non-Executive Directors, both with effect from 1 January 2017.
They will succeed Wendy Becker and Stephen Williams, who will be stepping down from the Board having both completed nine years’ service, on 31 December 2016 and 21 June 2017 respectively.
An influential business leader, Deanna Oppenheimer, is Founder and Chief Executive of CameoWorks, a digitally-focused boutique advisory firm.
Prior to that Deanna spent over twenty five years in a number of senior roles in banking at both Barclays Bank PLC and Washington Mutual Inc. and also serves as a non-executive director at Tesco PLC, Worldpay Group PLC and AXA SA.
Deanna will take over from Stephen Williams as Chair of the Remuneration Committee on 1 March 2017. To allow for a period of transition Stephen Williams will step down from the Board at the AGM in June 2017.
Having spent his career in the property sector, David Atkins, has been Chief Executive of Hammerson plc, the FTSE100 retail property company, for the past seven years.
During his time as Chief Executive David has been responsible for the Company’s transition to become a retail property specialist, the recent expansion into new European territories including Ireland and the increased focus on the premium outlet sector.
David is former Chairman of the European Public Real Estate Association (EPRA), past president of Revo (formerly BCSC) and a member of the British Property Federation.
Richard Baker, Chairman of Whitbread PLC said “I am delighted to announce the appointments of Deanna Oppenheimer and David Atkins as Non-Executive Directors.
Deanna is a highly experienced executive, with a strong background in mass consumer retail, and will bring her experience of having worked with a broad range of leading edge digital businesses in her role at CameoWorks to the Whitbread Board.
In addition, Deanna’s experience of chairing the Tesco Remuneration Committee makes her well-placed to succeed Stephen Williams.
David is the CEO of a major UK business with interests across a number of European markets.
Whitbread has a clear growth strategy, which is underpinned by an extensive property portfolio, and David’s experience in the European retail property sector will provide the Whitbread Board with invaluable insights as we expand both in the UK and overseas.
I would like to thank both Wendy Becker and Stephen Williams for their much valued contribution to the Whitbread Board during a very successful period for the Company.
Wendy has played a significant role as a member of all three Board Committees, whilst Stephen has served both as Senior Independent Director and, more recently, as Chairman of the Remuneration Committee.”
