Board of Directors

William McGrath (B)
Chief Executive

William McGrath was appointed chief executive in March 2001.  William joined the Group as finance director in October 1997 from Aggregate Industries plc where he had become finance director in 1992.  He previously worked in the investment banking and construction sectors.  He is a qualified accountant and a history graduate.

Shaun Smith (B)
Group Finance Director

Shaun Smith was appointed to the board as group finance director in March 2001.  Shaun joined the Group from Marks and Spencer plc in 1989 and worked in treasury becoming the group treasurer in 1999.  He is a co-opted member of the audit committee of Birmingham City University.  He is a qualified treasurer and economics graduate.

John Coleman  (B*, A, N*, R)
Chairman (Independent) 

John Coleman was appointed an independent non-executive director in March 2008 and became Chairman of the Board in May 2008. John chairs the nomination committee and became a member of the audit and risk and remuneration committees in January 2010.  John is currently chairman of Holidaybreak plc and a non-executive director of Travis Perkins plc.  He was chief executive of House of Fraser plc from 1996 to 2006.  Prior to that he was chief executive of Texas Homecare and held a number of senior management positions within the Burton Group PLC.  He is a chartered management accountant.

Paul Dermody joined the board in March 2004 and chairs the audit & risk committee.  Paul is a non-executive director of Majestic Wine PLC and chairman of the trustees of The National Football Museum.  He was formerly chief executive of De Vere Group Plc, having spent his career with its predecessor Greenalls.  He is a chartered management accountant. 

Jonathan Carling (B, A, N, R)
Non-Executive Director (Independent)

Jonathan Carling joined the Board on 27th October 2010.  He is currently the chief operating officer at Aston Martin Lagonda Limited and prior to that he held senior engineering positions with Jaguar Cars Limited. Jon has extensive manufacturing, product development and brand experience.

Paul Jackson (B, A, N, R*)
Non-Executive Director (Independent)

Paul Jackson joined the Board in December 2005.  Paul has spent his career in advertising.  He started his career with Saatchi & Saatchi and later became executive managing partner and vice chairman of Ammirati Puris Lintas.  He joined Ogilvy & Mather Limited, part of the WPP Group, in 1999.  He was a director at Ogilvy Group and chief executive of Ogilvy & Mather until 2007.  He has wide experience in brand and international product development.

Pam Sissons
Company Secretary

Pam Sissons joined the Group in 1999 and was appointed company secretary in October 2004.  She is a Fellow of the Chartered Insurance Institute and an Associate of the Chartered Institute of Secretaries and Administrators.