British clothing-to-food retailer Marks and Spencer on Monday announced that it had appointed Robert Swannell, boss of music retailer HMV, to replace its outgoing chairman Stuart Rose. Swannell, 59, will join the board in early October, before assuming the chairman role on January 4, 2011, M&S said in a statement.
He is currently HMV chairman and has more than 30 years of experience in investment banking with Schroders and Citigroup. Swannell, former chairman of Citigroup's European operations, is also an independent director of property group British Land and a non-executive director of private equity firm 3i. "Robert will be an excellent chairman for us. He has strong complementary skills and I am very much looking forward to working with him," said M&S chief executive Marc Bolland, who began his job in May.