Former Marks & Spencer boss Marc Bolland tipped to take up director role at British Airways owner IAG
Marks & Spencer's former chief executive Marc Bolland is tipped to be named as a non-executive director of International Airlines Group (IAG), the owner of British Airways.
An announcement about his appointment could be made as soon as this Friday, Sky News has reported, when IAG unveils its first-quarter results, according to headhunting industry sources.
It will be the former M&S chief’s first appointment at a London-listed company since he announced his departure from the high street bellwether in January.
Spencer Stuart, the executive search firm, is understood to have identified Bolland as a candidate for the board vacancy at IAG.
Already a board member of The Coca-Cola Company, Bolland will be taking on a role which will place him in the frame as a potential long-term successor to IAG’s chairman, Antonio Vazquez.
He will join well-known corporate names on the airline group’s board, including Baroness Kingsmill, the former deputy chair of the Competition Commission, and Patrick Cescau, chairman of InterContinental Hotels Group.
Bolland, a former Heineken executive, won plaudits for overhauling the image of Wm Morrison, the supermarket chain he ran before being poached by M&S in 2009.
He made some progress with the transformation of M&S’s inefficient supply chain, but fared less well turning around its poor performance in clothing, presiding over more than three years of declining like-for-like womenswear sales.
IAG is enjoying a different trajectory, with Willie Walsh, the owner of BA, Iberia and Aer Lingus, trumpeting soaring operating profits and the first dividend since the enlarged company was formed in 2011.