Sir Stuart Rose

Executive Chairman

Sir Stuart, 58, will become executive chairman on June 1. He was appointed chief executive of M&S in May 2004. That year, he fought off a second takeover bid for M&S by retail magnate Sir Philip Green in what escalated into a fierce tussle for control between the two businessmen. Sir Stuart is a non-executive director of Land Securities, the property developer, and chairman of the British Fashion Council. He began his career in retail at Marks & Spencer in 1972 before going on to the Burton Group, now Arcadia, in 1989. He became chief executive of Burton's multiples division in 1994 before leaving the group following its demerger in 1997. Sir Stuart was chief executive of Argos in 1998 and later became chief executive of cash and carry operator Booker. Between 2000 and 2002, he was chief executive of Arcadia Group which was bought by Sir Philip in 2002.

Sir David Michels

Deputy Chairman

Sir David, 60, joined the M&S board as a non-executive director in March 2006 and became the board's senior independent director in September of that year. He will become deputy chairman on June 1. He also holds non-executive directorships on the boards of property company British Land, budget airline easyjet, real estate investment trust Strategic Hotels & Resorts and investment management company RAB Capital. Sir David has considerable experience in the leisure industry. He was chief executive of the Hilton Group, now Ladbrokes, between 2000 and 2006 and has also held senior management positions at Grand Metropolitan Hotels and Stakis, the hotel and casino group. He was knighted in June 2006.

Ian Dyson

Group Finance and Operations Director

A former finance director of gaming company The Rank Group, Mr Dyson, 44, was appointed to the M&S board as finance director in June 2005. He has now been given responsibility for retail and human resources alongside his current responsibilities of finance, IT, logistics, property and store development. Before joining Rank he was group financial controller of the Hilton Group and finance director at Le Meridien, a division of Forte. His early career was spent with Arthur Andersen, where he qualified as a chartered accountant in 1986 and was promoted to a partner of the firm in 1994. Ian was a non-executive director of Misys, the software group, until September 2005.

Kate Bostock

Executive Director Clothing

Kate Bostock, 49, has been promoted to the board and is now responsible for all clothing except the per una range. She was appointed director of womenswear, lingerie and childrenswear in October 2004. Ms Bostock was previously a product director for the George global brand at ASDA covering all areas of clothing and footwear. In this role she was responsible for design, buying and technology. Ms Bostock was also responsible for the launch of the standalone George concept and the launch of George globally. Before joining Asda in 2001, she was product director for childrenswear at Next.

Steven Esom

Executive Director Food

Mr Esom, 47, was appointed director of foods in June 2007. He will keep this role but has been appointed to the board with immediate effect. He was formerly managing director of Waitrose, having joined the partnership as Waitrose’s director of buying in 1996. Before joining the partnership, he spent most of his career at Sainsbury’s in various buying roles, including a period with its US subsidiary Shaws, based in Boston. After leaving in 1993, he joined the Ladbroke Group as buying and merchandising director for Texas Homecare for a year. He then moved to Hilton International in 1995 as vice-president of global merchandising. Mr Esom became a non-executive director of Carphone Warehouse in September 2005.

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