British Land appoints Chief Executive (UK)

The Board of The British Land Company PLC announced that Mr. Stephen Hester has been appointed Chief Executive of the Company and will take up his duties later in the year, as soon as he is able to relinquish his present appointment. At this time the roles of Chief Executive and of Chairman of the Board will be split, with Mr. John Ritblat remaining in post as Chairman of the Board.

Mr. Hester (aged 43) is at present Chief Operating Officer of Abbey National plc which he joined as Chief Financial Officer in May 2002. For the previous twenty years he was at Credit Suisse First Boston, rising through various appointments to become Chief Financial Officer and then Global Head of the Fixed Income Division in both New York and London. At Abbey he has held a leadership role in the company embracing strategy, risk, finance, financial markets and external communications, skills which will be particularly apposite at a time of change in the property industry.

Dr. Chris Gibson-Smith, Chairman of British Land’s Nomination Committee, states, “We are very pleased to have attracted Stephen Hester to be our new Chief Executive. The breadth of his experience will be invaluable and we are confident that in the Chief Executive role he will be a worthy successor to John Ritblat. We are fortunate that we will be able to retain John Ritblat as Chairman, where his wide ranging skills and unrivalled experience of the property industry will continue to remain invaluable”.

Source: British Land

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