Our Board

Lawrence Hutchings joined the Group as CEO in November 2024. He was previously CEO of Capital & Regional PLC for a period of seven years. Prior to that, he was Managing Director at Blackstone in Australia for four years, Managing Director, UK Retail at Hammerson PLC and Director (Property) European Retail at Henderson Global Investors.

Committee Memberships:
ESG Committee

Current external appointments:
Lawrence currently has no external appointments.

Dave Benson joined the Group in April 2020 as Chief Financial Officer. He was previously Corporate Finance Director at Whitebread PLC. Prior to that, he held senior finance roles at Kier Group and Keller Group PLC, having qualified as a chartered accountant at Deloitte. 

Committee memberships: 
ESG Committee

Current external appointments: 
Dave currently has no external appointments. 

Lesley-Ann joined the Board in January 2021. She was previously a Director in the Cabinet Office of HM Government and a Managing Director at Morgan Stanley, as well as having formerly worked at UBS and Midland Bank.

Committee Memberships:
Chair of the Remuneration Committee and a member of the Audit, Nominations and ESG Committees.

Current external appointments:
Lesley-Ann is currently a Non-Executive Director of St James’s Place PLC and a Board member of Homes England and BusinessLDN.

Rosie Shapland, a Chartered Accountant, was appointed to the Board in November 2020. She was previously an audit partner at PwC. 

Committee memberships: 
Chair of the Audit Committee and member of the Nominations, ESG and Remuneration Committees. 

Current external appointments: 
Rosie is currently a Non-Executive Director of Foxtons Group and PayPoint PLC. 

Manju joined the Board on 26th January 2022. She was Chief Executive of Harvey Nichols until December 2023, having joined the business in 1998 and holding various roles including CFO and co-COO. 

Committee memberships:
Chair of the ESG Committee and member of the Audit and Nominations Committees.

Current external appointments:
Manju is currently a Non-Executive Director of abrdn UK Smaller Companies Growth Trust plc and London & Partners, an international trade and investment agency for London.

Nick joined the Board on 26th January 2022. He is currently Chief Executive of Greene King PLC. He previously spent 17 years at Merlin Entertainments and started his career at pub company, Bass. Between 2016 and 2019, he was Non-Executive Director of Daniel Thwaites PLC. 

Committee memberships: 
Member of the Nominations and ESG Committees

Current external appointments: 
Nick is CEO at Greene King, the pub retailer and brewer. 
 

David joined the Board on 1 June 2024. He has been an investment columnist for the Financial Times for over 15 years and has built up a number of media businesses, such as corporate communications business, The Rocket Science Group.

Committee memberships:
Member of the Nominations and ESG Committees.

Current external appointments:
David is Director at investor relations specialist, Doceo.tv and Non-Executive Director at listed funds Gresham House Energy Storage, Aurora and Castelnau.