Ultra is pleased to announce that John Hirst CBE has been appointed to the Board of Ultra as a Non-Executive Director with effect from 1 January 2015. The intention is that he will succeed Chris Bailey as the Chair of the Audit Committee following the Annual General Meeting (AGM) in April 2015. Chris will retire from the Board at the AGM following ten years of service as a Non-Executive Director of Ultra.
John Hirst qualified as a Chartered Accountant and is an experienced leader of large global private and public sector organisations. Most recently he was Chief Executive of the UK Met Office for seven years until his retirement in September 2014. During his time with the Met Office, John led the organisation to greater operational and strategic success, serving a wide variety of customers across the Government and the private sector in the UK and internationally. From 1998 to 2005, he was Chief Executive of Premier Farnell where he oversaw the financial and operational restructuring, re-branding and re-positioning of the company’s major businesses. Prior to this, John spent 19 years with ICI plc, during which he held a number of senior appointments, including Group Treasurer and Chief Executive of two of ICI’s Global businesses.
John has been a non-executive director of a FTSE100 company and an AIM company; he served for ten years as a Non-Executive Director of Hammerson, where he was also Chairman of the Audit Committee.
Douglas Caster, Chairman, commented:
“I am delighted to welcome John onto the Board of Ultra. John's broad and relevant experience will be valuable to the Board and I am confident that he will make a substantial contribution to Ultra’s continuing success. I would like to thank Chris for his ten years of service to the Group and wish him well in his retirement"
This announcement is made in accordance with paragraph 9.6.11 of the Listing Rules. There are no details to be disclosed under paragraph 9.6.13 (2) to (6) of the Listing Rules.
Enquiries:
Rakesh Sharma, Chief Executive
Mary Waldner, Group Finance Director
020 8813 4307
Susan Ellis, Corporate Affairs Director
07836 522 722
James White, MHP Communications
020 3128 8756