Richard Baker to retire as chairman of Whitbread
Whitbread has announced the retirement of its chairman Richard Baker and the appointment of Adam Crozier.
Baker will hang up his duties on 28 February after nine years of service.
Crozier, who is currently senior independent director, will resume the role. He has previous experience as chief executive of Saatchi & Saatchi, the Football Association, the Royal Mail and recently ITV, where he served as CEO until June 2017.
Baker said: "As I now approach my ninth Whitbread year end, we are executing our strategic plan to build a bigger and better Whitbread for the benefit of all stakeholders. We have a well established chief executive and executive team, a refreshed board, and considerable momentum in delivering this plan. This aligns with a personal intention I had, earlier last year, to progressively scale back my business responsibilities, so now is the time to hand over the chair.
"Adam has had a long and successful executive career and I am pleased the board has selected such a strong candidate to lead Whitbread through its next era of development. It has been a privilege to work for Whitbread during such a time of growth and success. Hosting the recent 275th year celebration was a proud and poignant moment for me, given how very few companies achieve such an extraordinary milestone"
Crozier added: "Whitbread has two great brands in Premier Inn and Costa, with 50,000 colleagues delivering terrific customer service every day. We have a very strong management team and an exciting plan to continue to deliver growth in our core UK businesses, whilst developing our international business through growth in Germany, China and Costa Express.
"I am delighted to become chairman of Whitbread and to help steer the company through the next chapter of its long history. I would also like to thank Richard on behalf of the whole Whitbread team for his wisdom, enthusiasm and commitment during his nine years on the Board, during which time the company has grown earnings each year and created significant value for shareholders."
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