Burberry chair to replace Tesco’s John Allan
Tesco has appointed Dr Gerry Murphy as chair, replacing the outgoing John Allan who is stepping down amid allegations of misconduct.
Allan has been accused of inappropriate behaviour by four women. The Tesco chair “vigorously denied” three of these claims but “unreservedly apologised” for one.
Murphy will join the supermarket retailer as non-executive chair on September 1.
He is currently chair of both Burberry and Tate & Lyle, but will be stepping down from his role as the latter to ensure he has “sufficient capacity” to act as Tesco chair, the retailer said.
Murphy has experience in both executive and non-executive roles, primarily working in the retail industry and other customer-focused businesses.
Most recently, he was group chief executive at Kingfisher, and has previously held the position of chief executive at Carlton Communications, Exel, and Greencore Group. He was also previously the chair of Blackstone’s principal European entity.
Bryan Grote, interim chair of Tesco, said: “[Murphy] was the unanimous choice of the board and will bring to our board a record of strong and effective boardroom leadership and a deep understanding of retail and consumer-focused businesses and corporate governance.”
Grote will step back into his previous role of senior independent director and chair of the Audit Committee upon Murphy’s appointment.