Wetherspoon appoints four employee directors
Pub group JD Wetherspoon has appointed four employee directors – two with full director status and two as associate directors.
The appointments will be effective from 20 December and have been made for an initial three-year term.
After consultation with shareholders and employees, it was felt that the company would benefit from having more pub experience at board level. As a result, suitable applicants from within the company were invited to apply and more than 100 applications were received from managers across the group.
Following a selection process, the employee directors will include (pictured from left) Debbie Whittingham and Hudson Simmons. West Midlands regional manager Whittingham joined Wetherspoon as a shift manager in 1992 and was appointed as a pub manager in 1993 and as an area manager in 2002. She is chair of the company's Women's Network Group and was named Wetherspoon's ‘Area Manager of the Year' in 2014.
Simmons, area manager for Sheffield, joined Wetherspoon as a shift manager in 1997, was appointed as a pub manager in 2003 and as an area manager in 2014. In 2010, he was named ‘Pub Manager of the Year'.
The associate employee directors will include Will Fotheringham and Emma Gibson. Fotheringham, regional manager for the Manchester area, joined Wetherspoon as a shift manager in 1998, was appointed as a pub manager in 2000 and as an area manager in 2006. He was awarded ‘Area Manager of the Year' in 2011 and ALMR ‘Area Manager of the Year' in 2013.
Emma Gibson, pub manager of the Imperial in Exeter, joined Wetherspoon as a bar associate in 2004 and was appointed as a pub manager in 2010. She is chair of the ‘Best Bar None' groups for Torquay and Exeter and, in 2019, received the Commissioner's Award from the Police and Crime Commissioner of Devon & Cornwall Police for services to Best Bar None.
Wetherspoon chairman Tim Martin said: "A successful pub company depends primarily on gradual improvements, based on suggestions from employees.
"Pub and area managers, and other members of pub teams, have always participated in weekly decision-making meetings, which distil suggestions from the ‘front line'.
"The appointment of employee directors will extend this approach to board meetings and will help to preserve the culture of the company for the future.
"Wetherspoon is pleased to welcome Debbie, Hudson, Will and Emma to their new roles."
