Royal Mail welcomes new Chairman

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28/01/2009


Commenting on Donald Brydon’s appointment as Chairman of Royal Mail Group, Allan Leighton, outgoing Chairman, said: "I warmly welcome this appointment. Donald has a strong track record across a range of business sectors and clearly has the skills and experience to support Adam and the team as they take the business through the next crucial stage of its development."

Mr Leighton added: "It has been a privilege for me to have been the Chairman of Royal Mail for the last seven years and to have seen the company through a period of enormous change - with a turnaround from losses of more than £1 million every working day to today’s position where all four businesses in the Group are profitable at the same time for the first time in 20 years and the company has the stable base needed for the next phase of its transformation plan, and is on course to almost double its profits in the current financial year."

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The boss of a leading engineering company was appointed chairman of the Royal Mail today, to succeed Allan Leighton.

Donald Brydon, chairman of the Smiths group, was appointed for three years from March on a salary of £200,000 a year.

Business Secretary Lord Mandelson said Mr Brydon was a proven business leader who had successfully steered companies through periods of transformation.

"Royal Mail is now at a crucial stage in its own transformation as it strives to improve efficiency and deliver an even better service to customers."

Lord Mandelson said the Royal Mail faced many challenges including a "volatile" multibillion-pound pension deficit as well as a "dramatic" reduction in the number of letters being posted.

The Government is proposing to sell a minority stake in the business to a private company, a decision which has sparked opposition from a number of Labour MPs as well as unions representing postal workers.

Lord Mandelson said: "Outside investment and management expertise, action on the pension deficit and on regulation is the way to transform Royal Mail and secure its future in public ownership."

Mr Brydon said: "The Royal Mail is one of Britain's great organisations and I am honoured to be ask to lead it in the next phase of its continuing modernisation.

"There is clearly a big challenge ahead but also great opportunities to meet our customers' needs.

"I am delighted to be joining the board at this time and look forward to a positive involvement which will benefit our customers, employees and the taxpayer."

Mr Brydon will join the Royal Mail's board as a non-executive director with immediate effect before taking over from Mr Leighton in March.

Mr Leighton has been chairman for seven years.

Mr Leighton welcomed the appointment of Mr Brydon, saying he had a strong track record across a range of businesses.

"It has been a privilege for me to have been the chairman of Royal Mail for the last seven years and to have see the company through a period of enormous change, with a turnaround from losses of more than £1 million every working day to today's position where all four businesses in the group are profitable at the same time for the first time in 20 years and the company has the stable base needed for the next phase of its transformation plan and is on course to almost double its profits in the current financial year."

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http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/b ... 587699.ece
88: Donald Brydon
(27, 14) Biggest FTSE directorship: non-executive chairman, Smiths Group (engineering, c£240,000).

Other FTSE directorships: non-executive director, ScottishPower (utilities, £67,200); Edinburgh UK Tracker Trust, Malvern UK Index Trust, Edinburgh Inca Trust (banking and finance, c£8,500).

Power 100 score: 216.8 Age: 59 Career: Donald Brydon spent 22 years at Barclays, in which time he was chairman and chief executive of BZW Investment Management. In 1997, he joined the boards of Amersham, Allied Domecq and Edinburgh UK Tracker Trust in non-executive capacities. In the same year, he joined Sun Life & Provincial Holdings as a director, a post he held until 2000. Brydon became chairman of Amersham in 2003 and was appointed a non-executive director of ScottishPower in 2003.
# Nigel Stapleton was,

from 1999 to 2000, a non-executive of Sun Life & Provincial Holdings, of which Brydon was a non-executive from 1997 to 2000. Stapleton was a non-executive of Allied Domecq from 1993 to 1999. Brydon held a similar position with Allied between 1997 and this year. Stapleton is a former chairman, chief executive and finance director of Reed, the publisher that merged with Elsevier to create Reed Elsevier.
# David Challen has, since 2003, been a non-executive director of Smiths, of which Brydon became chairman last year. Challen and Brydon have also sat together on

the board of Amersham.
# Mark Wood was chief executive of Sun Life & Provincial Holdings, the insurer subsumed by AXA, in 1997 at the start of Brydon’s time as a non-executive director. Wood and Brydon were contemporaries at Barclays.

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