BRIGHT SPARK
IMPERIAL Tobacco yesterday named Alison Cooper as its next chief executive, making her the youngest woman to run a FTSE 100 company.
She will take over from current chief executive Gareth Davies, who is retiring after 37 years at the firm.
The promotion for Cooper, 43, means that there are now five female chief executives at UK blue-chips.
The other women at the helm of FTSE 100 companies include: (clockwise from top left) three Americans, Angela Ahrendts of fashion group Burberry, Cynthia Carroll at miner Anglo American, and Dame Marjorie Scardino of publisher Pearson, and one Briton, Katherine Garrett-Cox of Alliance Trust.